A Snake's Tale
by wolfdawn
Summary: Ekans Gaunt was murdered at 7 years, then brought to life by powerful forces many years later. Now, in the care of a muggle lady she recieves a letter claimng that she has got a living relative, Lord Voldemort. Now as strange events throw them and the death eaters into something that could kill them all, secrets unfold and discoveries are made. will be pairing (Bellamort) Violence
1. Chapter 1

**Copyright: I do not own any of the characters except for my OCs and the events that happen to them, regardless this is my first serious fanfic so please go easy on me and I hope you enjoy it!**

**This is another** **attempt** **at a chapter that failed misrebly (I really suck at beginnings) also if their are a lot of spelling mistakes that's because I'm writing this in a bit of a rush and because I want to get on to the juicy bits quickly. I know I right shitty beginnings but just bear with me this one will be better that the last. **

Chapter 1 - A letter

The light of Ekans' cheap bedside lamp shone through the darknesss, casting strange shadows over her things and illuminating the folded letter she was holding in her pale, long fingered hands.

She had recieved the letter this morning. Prim, with whom she had lived for four years, had got one as well and Prim's was even vaguer than hers.

The letter claimed she had a living relative, though no name was mentioned or appearance given, there was nothing there, no hope to cling to. Even if false.

She had often wondered if one of the others made it, if one of the people she had grown up with too had been given life back. She told herself not to hope for even though she sometimes felt strange emotions leaking into her mind, like ink across a piece of card, through a bond that definitely hadn't been there before there was no chance one of them had survived.

She kew they didn't belong to anyone she knew. The emotions she felt were strange ones; anger that she felt for no reason, severe worry without a cause, a sense that she was waiting, plotting, nursing old wounds, waiting for a moment to strike. But the strangest she felt was loneliness. But not a natural longing for human company, love or anything like that but a longing that someone who has been raised at sea, heard of but never seeen land felt, that was the loneliness the person she shared the bond with felt. They didn't even know about it and it felt unnatural to her. Not just because it wasn't hers, but beacsuse she pitied that person. She pitied someone she had never met.

Who ever this person was, they didn't know she existed.

Sighing, she pushed her thick black hair out of her electric turqoise eyes, unfolded the letter and began to read it again:

_Dear Ekans Gaunt, _

_I am very happy to say that a study of a surviving copy of your family tree has lead me to believe that you have a living relative. _

_I know that this is a vague and short way to sum up what could be a life changing event but I myself have found it very difficult to discover even a grain of information about your family's history, and the world knows absoloutely nothing of your existence. _

_I myself am simply fascinated by your life, your birth, your death, your ressurection and I would like you to come to the London Geneology Institute at 1'0'clock on June 9th to answer some questions and to meet your relative. _

_Just to minimise any worry, I do not carry out orders from anyone and this investigation is purely out of my own curiousity. _

_Regardless, please keep what I have written a secret and do come. _

_Yours sincereiy, _

_Professor Bartholomew Augustus Himagh of the London Geneology institute. _

She rolled over onto her back and pondered who on earth was the professor, what did he want from her and who the bloody hell was this relative that was being dangled under her nose.

Replacing the letter and turning off the light, she curled up in the dark and began to chant. She chanted a list of names every night, like a twisted sort of prayer, in the memory of the people that had been killed.

Those good, good people that she would some day avenge...

"Minevra McGonagall," She began," for Hester Rayne, Lily Evans for what that bloody bitch did to that poor boy, James Potter for helping her, Sirius Black for raping that girl, Remus Lupin for doing nothing, Alastor Moody for killing that family and," She felt her mouth twist as she said the repulsive name of the man that had murdered her family and herself, "Albus Dumbleore for Sully, Albus Dumbledore for Marv...Albus Dumbledore for _me_..."

Finishing her prayer, she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. She had a long day ahead of her.

"Ek!," Prim screeched, hoping Ekans had already woken up, today was going to be an important day for her and she wanted the poor girl to have some food in her. She was going to need some strength to get to London and this so called professor and his letters gave her the willies. "EKANS, YOU GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW YOUNG LADY!" She paused, hearing nothing but silence, then the door creaked open and Ekans stepped in.

"Good morning to you too." She said in a way of greeeting before walking across the dingy kitchen to the table, pulling out a chair and taking a seat like she did every morning.

Prim had never gotten over how silently Ekans walked, a trait left over from before, when walking too loudly could mean death. She had also never understood how on earth someone so young could look so beautiful and dangerous at the same.

Now Prim wasn't a lover of beautiful things or people because they broke easily, but Ekans wasn't like that she was..strong. Stronger than anyone Prim had ever met to suffer so much and remain so human.

She had long thick wavy black hair that many girls would kill to have, her skin was almost unnaturally pale but that was the case with most witches or wizards. Prim remembered her sister and she felt a pang of pain and shame. She was moderately tall and quite thin, but not at all like one of those wispy skinny creatures people poured over these days, for her body would never fully recover from being starved for so long.

The only things that could possibly ruin her body were her scars. Prim had seen flashes of them. Some of them were ugly red marks made by passionate anger and street brawls over food but others were strange, silvery marks that looked mysterious and ethereal. As if created, Prim had first thought, by an angel.

The biggest scar that caused the most misery was a _'S' _shape carved into her skin by a knife. But the strange thing was that, it should have healed years ago, yet it remained an open wound but it never bled and looked as if it was covered by a layer of glass that had been there ever since Prim first saw her.

_"Almost like a layer of Poison"_ Prim thought as Ekans began to eat her eggs, _"_magical _poison."  
_

"Did you sleep well?" Prim asked, for sometimes Ekans dissappeared at night and when she did strange rumors could be heard whispered by people who claimed to have seen things that made no sense.

That appeared to not be the case today though. For she looked refreshed and rested.

"I slept okay."

Ekans was having a hard day. She hadn't let Galician or Thread out for a long time. As for Magnus, well...even people in the 21st century might find a giant, black turqoise eyed dragon flying over London a little suspicious. For this reason they were nagging at her non stop.

_"Please," _That was Galacian talking to her mentally,_ "you haven't let us 'out' in weeeks I mean, for Christ's sake woman I'm a _wolf_,_ _an animal of free will you can't expect me to sit here cooped up in your brain for all eternity!" _

_"He's right," _That was Magnus,_ "I understand why I can't be allowed to be given free will over my body but Galacian can be careful..." _

Ekans groaned mentally, she hated it when they ganged up on her. She was just about to remind then that they were in London and that the pople of Chingford would find a giant black wolf that was faster and stronger than any other very strange and alarming when Prim said; "Ek, can you come with me."

Ekans frowned, Prim didn't usually do things like this. And if she did she was straight forward and honest about it.

_"What'sshedoingarewegoingtodieisshegoingtokillusIthinkweshouldhide." _Ekans rolled her eyes, Jeminiha the dormouse was so easily panicked and untrustworthy.

She followed Prim until she came to a cabinet that joined on to the kitchen, it was here that Prim kept her things of value. leaning against the doorframe awkwardly, she heard Prim rummaging through boxes that she stacked on the shelves in no particular order and tried to imagain what this relative would look like and who they actually were.

"Found them!" Prim called triumphantly, momentarily forgetting why she was even looking for Ek's old things. Then she remembered and told her to come in.

"Here," She said kindly holding out what Ekans had first appeared to her in, "You can take them back."

Ekans' eyes widened and, hardly aware that she was doing do, reached out and took from Prim the only remaining relics she had of her old life; a matted scarf with frayed edges, a small knife she had used to defend herself with and her wand, the thing thathad brought her back to life.

"I-I can _keep_ them, you know, take them with me?" Prim was sensitive when it came to magic; her muggle born sister had been killed by death eaters, making Prim a little touchy when it came to the supernatural.

Prim snorted, "They are yours aren't they? Besides, I don't like the sound of this professor and how do we know this so called relative isn't just some crazy phsycopath that wants to kill you and I do not want to you to be completely defenceless."

Ekans wraped the scarf around her neck, it's familiar weight caused memories of the past to stir up inside her.

"Now that that's done," Prim continued, "Let's find you a coat that actually fits."


	2. Chapter 2

**I know I haven't done a lot of uploading in a while but my internet server ran into problems so I couldn't upload anything for about a week but I'm back now and I will try to upload every week or two weeks depending on how the wind blows. By the way, this chapter is pretty brief because of the story's plot. **

**Also, this story received it's first follower so thank you so much you've really warmed my heart and I hope you like the rest of it! **

Chapter 2-Dark Lord

_The ground flies underneath my feet, trees and stars go hurling by as I run. I have scented my prey and soon I shall be upon it, I shall bite through it's young neck and feel the juice of life stain my fangs red and trickle down my throat. The sweet, sweet taste of death. _

_I feel my wings ripple behind me like a...what are they called again? _

"cloaks," _A voice whispered. _

_Ah yes, cloaks. Never did get the hang of those things anyway..._

_I can smell it again... _

_The scent of a living, warm body teases across my face, it's close...so close... _

_My stomach twists painfully as the hunger and anguish of not having my body come back. I want nothing more than to feed and fly, to breathe my fiery breath and watch all that surrounds me turn to ashes and dust. _

_I can see it now, a limping deer, strayed from the herd. _

_Now any rational sense I had has disappeared, shattered into icy sharp diamonds as all that matters become quenching the hunger I have carried for so long, putting out the fire of hunger that has resided in my being for so long...so very long... _

_Now my fangs are closing around it's torso, I feel the blood pool into my mouth. Nothing shall ever taste so sweet... _

"Except THEIR blood..." _The voice whispered again, it was a human voice he now realised. _

_Ah yes...that shall be a truly sweet meal..._

Then a memory that wasn't his flooded his mind, only to vanish before he had time to fully register it.

The dark lord woke up with a jolt, he sat upright and felt both very disturbed and happy at the same time.

What odd feelings.

He pushed his snake, that no matter what he said to it always seemed to wrap around him during his sleeping hours, and wondered what it all meant. Who were they, who was the dragon, who did the memory belong to, who was the voice and most of all, why was he of all people seeing this?

He glanced down, oh shit, he had woken up his snake. When he woke his snake up against her will, she often got very pissed at him and well, just because she was his horocrux it didn't mean that she couldn't... 'relieve' herself directly onto his clothes. And the last thing he needed was a big splat of snake shit right on his robes.

His snake looked at his with an expression that said, "Bitch, who do you think you are, waking me up at 5 in the morning?" It then yawned, rolled over and turned away from him huffily.

Muttering apologies in parseltounge, he shoved his snake off him (She was awake so there was no point doing this ceremoniously) and started groping through the semi darkness to find his wand.

He eventually found it lying underneath a pile of books. It was faintly damp which gave him the terrible suspicion that his snake, Nagini, had been 'tidying' again. In other words, slithering around with his wand in her mouth, hiding it to piss him off.

He still had his yew wand, he kept it because it reminded him of the old times, when it had just been him, his gang, and the cause. Back then even Dumbledore had seemed like an overgrown raisin, not a rival that could possibly kill him in the slightest. No Potters, no need to trust people that he hated, no need to even tolerate people like Wormtail let alone praise them. He sighed. Things were so...simple back then.

"Then everything went to shit." He said out loud.

"You were having a dream about shit?" Hi snake asked him, slithering across the floor.

"No!" He snapped irritably and strode off to do something much more worthy of his time and effort.

He walked through the halls of the Riddle manor, stopping only to run his hand over a scorch mark that he had made what seemed like a life time ago. He still remembered that night in perfect detail;

It was a family reunion being held in the manor, he had planned carefully, he needed make sure he killed them in one go, or else he would kill himself from the inside. Their tortured screams had been music to his ears, so full of agony and terror. He still remembered, he had saved his father for last, used the imperius curse on him to force him to watch his family die. To his disgust, his father had begged only for his own life, not for the life of anyone else, for this reason when it was his father's turn to die, he had done it with his bare hands. He had stabbed his father till they were both surrounded by a pool of shining red blood.

He smiled a sick smile as he remembered that, happy times.

He walked into the kitchen and then he wondered why. This new body of his didn't seem to require food or drink to survive and it looked very strange. In fact, his body was the only reason he hadn't looked for or made contact with any of his death eaters, they wouldn't recognise him. He didn't recognise himself most of he time.

Fortunately, he looked relatively human shaped for which he was thankful and thanks to his snake once having a dream that she was biting someone's head off, he knew he bled red. That was good because it wouldn't do if the order found out the leader of the death eaters had tartan coloured blood.

He shrugged, perhaps he'd go off and torture some villagers or something.

He flicked the last muggle into a sharp, metal fence, they landed on the spikes at the top which he suspected were to keep out thieves, spraying his filthy blood everywhere. Lord Voldemort looked around him, there were corpses strewn everywhere and the whole of the village looked like a miniature hell. He shold probably leave before the Aurors arrived or else there may be some suspicion and if there was suspicion then they'd probably torture the death eaters they had in Azkaban and as much as Bellatrix unnerved him and the Malfoys absolutely disgusted him, he wouldn't like to have them tortured or even worse, killed.

He felt the tingling feeling between his shoulder blades which he had learnt meant the presence of magic, it was too weak to belong to an auror and now that he thought about it, it felt, old and stale. Sort of like something had rubbed it off on it.

Then he heard the flapping of feathery wings and he turned around. An owl was gliding towards him with what appeared to be a piece of parchment tied to it's right leg.

"You've got to be fuckin' kidding me." He muttered under his breath. What was an owl of all things doing out here, in the middle of bloody nowhere. As it got closer he realised that it had nowhere to land so he killed it to save it the bother. Then picking up the dead owl, he apparated to his current lodgings, which he still refused to call home.

When her master returned, Nagini was sitting in his chair trying to catch up on the sleep her master had so kindly deprived her of getting but he didn't care. How did she know? Because the first thing he said to her was. "get out of my bloody chair you slag." He had a talent when it came to dealing with animals.

"Can't we share besides, I only just got comfortable," Nagini whined slithering up the chair to lie in his lap. He sighed and stroked her head before unwrapping a letter. She couldn't see what it said and even if she could it wouldn't matter, she couldn't read this flimsy human tounge of theirs.

His hand paused and his body went tense, he went rigid and spat out,

"one of them survived."

He then jumped up, sending Nagini flying to the floor and apparated on the spot,

"The fuck was that about?" Nagini said to no one in particular. And what did he mean, one of them survived?


	3. THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER

**THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER!**

**I am simply going to say that I need motivation (and a way to fit the story together without ruining it) to write so I don't think I'll publish anything for a while but if I do then feel free to tell me a way that it can be improved by! **

**I am also having a couple of issues with my PC right now so if anything funny happens then just let me know. **


	4. Chapter 3- the meeting

**I'm feeling all motivated now, so it's time for me to write the fourth chapter.**

**Also if anyone reads or/and follows or favourites this story then thanks a bunch!**

Chapter 3- Meeting

Ekans walked down the dimly lit corridor. The long black coat that Prim ahd found in the attic swirled around her ankles. She had picked this coat because it hid the robes she was wearing and the wand that she was holding very nicely.

All that could be heard was the echoing sound of her trainers smacking the floor with every step she took, she appeared to be the only one visiting the professor...

On her way here she hadn't seen anyone else and she felt like all her suspicions were being proved right.

"I think this is it..." She said inside her head as she neared a heavy looking wooden door with a bronze plaque on which the name;

'Professor B. '

Was inscribed.

"I still think that this is a bad idea..." Jerimiah squeaked inside her head. Ekans rolled her eyes and reached for the door handle.

"Don't be ridiculous, besides, this is important..."

"Here we go again." Galacian sighed and Ekans not wanting to give him the satisfaction of arguing, turned the handle and opened the door.

The smell of cheap air freshener that barely disguised the smell of deceasing plants that were strewn near the window. They did very little to hide the burning, syrupy smell that Ekans learned long ago to associate with magic. Two chairs were pulled up near the table. Both of them were inhabited.

The person facing her was slumped in the chair in a lifeless, still way. Ekans suspected that they had been murdered.

"You should knock," the person sitting away from her said coldly, "before you come in."

Then they stood up and by the thin light that was let in by the semi closed curtains she could see that even without the wizarding robe, long pale wand and dead body behind them that this would be an unusual person; they were hairless, nose-less and had slit pupils that cut through his red eyes. Not your everyday person.

"Who," Ekans decided to keep this conversation brief, "I might ask, are you?"

"You don't need to know that."

Rude.

"What are you doing here?"

"I would ask you the same thing," he pointed his wand at her, "but I gave more pressing matters to attend to so Avada Kedavra."

Ekans dodged the spells he shot at her. She had an advantage over him...she was a skin walker, meaning she was faster, stronger and her senses were sharper than the average human's.

He was getting pissed at her now, she was still alive and he was planning on sending a snake to spy on the Malfoys to see what they were up to and whether or not they had remained loyal to him.

But now this...

"Why don't you put away your wand and we talk about this?" Ekans suggested. She was getting tired and Galacian refused to shut up.

"Why aren't you dead yet?" He asked no one in particular.

"Because you haven't hit me yet." A killing curse whistled past jet ankles as she leapt away from it.

"Are you mocking me?"

"No."

She needed to distract him somehow, she wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer...

"So, are you the professor or is that the man over there?"

"I killed him."

"That reminds me, why ARE you here exactly?"

"None of your business." He said stiffly.

"Well the reason I'm here is because I have a relative."

This seemed to enrage him. "Filthy Muggle scum!"

He shot a series of very powerful spells at her which Ekans managed to dodge by about a few millimetres. Her legs felt like they were on fire.

"I'm a Guant." She said hoping to defend her family, who took so much pride in their heritage, in her dying moments. "Not a bloody muggle."

"Liar." He hissed raising his wand to finish her off.

"No. My mother was Merope Gaunt, daughter Marvolo Gaunt and his wife. I was murdered when I was seven years old and then resurrected by the wand of Salazar Slytherin."

He paused, "Do you have the wand you spoke of?"

"Yes." She paused for a moment, "but it chose me."

"Stupid girl," he began, "wands don't chose muggles."

"The wand can write," she said, not believing how ridiculous her own words sounded, "so you can ask it if you must."

"You want to live don't you..."

Ekans' hand snakes inside her coat, finding her wand and drawing it out.

"Here," she held it out to him, "ask it."

"You are a stupid young child," he said, plucking the wand from her hand.

"Now Avada Ked-" his words were cut off by the wand flying out of his hand with a clatter.

It rolled around on the floor, then it picked itself up and began to write.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Decision

Dumbledor sat alone in his office. His long, bony fingers wrinkled by age turning his wand over and over.

It had been 11 years since the Potters died and God knows how many since all this madness started.

He could still remember the incanation that he had forced himself to memorise. It formed in his head as clearly as blood on a crystal. He whispered the words half heartedly.

"Surge Vitamus."

They came from the words 'surge vitae' which was Latin for 'arise of life'.

He sighed.

He had told countless students and people that such a spell didn't exist. That death truly was the end.

But he said that partly because he had to keep it a secret and partly because he wanted it to be that way.

Long ago, he had promised Lily and James that after their son came of age he would resurrect them. But that had been when he too had believed.

That was why he sympathized with the death eaters, he knew what it was like to so fully believe in a doomed cause.

He couldn't do this...

But, surely Lily and James would change once they saw themselves in the death eaters, who believed in their lords with all their twisted hearts and mercilessly slaughtered any one that dared to oppose them.

Yet at the same time...Lily and James had believed so deeply, deeper than him even. So deeply that they were willing to let their son become a piece of living clockwork.

"Albus? Albus!"

His head jerked up. He had quite forgotten that Minerva said that she would contact him by fire.

As he knelt down by his old, ornate fireplace, he felt the weight of the world, of his decision press down on his shoulders. This night, he would decide the fate of many people with two little words.

"Well," Her uneasiness was easy to read, "Have you made up your mind, Professor?"

"Yes Minerva," His tone was grave. "Bring their bodies to me, I'm going to keep my promise..."

**Here we are, fourth chappy complete!**


	6. Chapter 5

****Here is the 5********th******** chapter and thanks loads to the all the people that have read/followed/reviewed this story! You guys rock!****

Chapter 5 - Spying

"Ekans..."

"Hmmm..." She rolled over and tried to ignore the mental voices of all the animals that lived inside her soul.

"Please can you-"

"You're doing it wrong" Galacian retorted, "look at how it's done. GET UP YOU LAZY PIECE OF SQUIRREL SHIT YOU HAVE SOME STUFF TO SORT OUT, REMEMBER!"

Ekans leapt out of the crumple of robes she had been sleeping on with a yelp and began to rub her temples to clear her head of the echoing voices.

"Jesus, Gal," she muttered, "you live inside a person's head, you don't think you could maybe try to be a teeny bit nicer."

"Well I'm sorry madame!"

She rolled her eyes and looked around her. This wasn't her room. Her room's walls were pale and colourless, her few possessions standing out like black splodges of paint against a white canvas. This room's walls were dirty and shabby. The wallpaper was peeling off and she could see the bricks and broken planks underneath. There were a number of ancient blood stains on the floor that made her think that perhaps someone had got on the wrong end of a wand.

It did not look like somewhere that a powerful wizard such as the person that claimed to be her half brother, would live.

She sighed. To be honest, it reminded her too much of her old, first home on the streets with the family that she had outlived.

Oh well, she was up. She might as well.

"So let me just get this straight," Magnus said to her after she explained to him, "we follow your 'brother' in order to find out any useful information."

"Yes."

"So basically we're going to stalk him for a day."

"Well... I wouldn't put it like that but yes."

"And what do we do with what we find?"

Ekans gave a mental shrug and peered through the gap in the two planks she was hiding behind. "Whatever our gut tells us I guess."

She crouched lower down and reached out to Jeremiah and closed her eyes as she transformed.

She could see her eyelids faintly glow as she transformed into her.

She felt her soul shift as her mind swapped with Jeremiah's.

"He's coming." Magnus whispered and sure enough. He soon came into view, holding his wand with a large snake draped around his shoulders. Oh dear.

"He's got a snake!" Jeremiah squealed, shaking all over.

"Calm down, calm down! you know it can't smell you and if it tries to kill you then we'll turn into Galacian and bet the living shit out of it." Magnus said to her reassuringly.

"Ekans, thingy, he's saying stuff in that smack way you talk to snakes."

"He can speak parseltounge?" Ekans tried not to get angry at him but he should remember that by now. "Can you move closer, they might be saying something important."

Jeremiah shuffled forwards until they were all within earshot.

"-she says that she's a Gaunt." The snake asked.

"Yes."

"You still think she's lying. I mean, that wand did back her up."

"The wand is the only reason he's still alive."

"You know, what she's saying does sound true... we don;'t have any way of finding out what your mother did be-"

"SILENCE!" There was a flash and the snake was flung onto the floor.

"Somebody has anger problems..." Ekans muttered.

He then turned on his heel sharply and apparated.

"Well shit," Galacian muttered, "now how are we going to find him?"

"Easy! We'll use Magnus' power to find him and then we'll fly there, turn into Jeremiah and look for any suspicious behaviour. Afterwards we'll go to the Ministry of Magic and see if we can find anything about him."

"That sounds complicated..." Magnus muttered.

"And dangerous!" Jeremiah added quickly.

Ekans rolled her eyes.

"Okay, when the snake leaves we'll transform."

They all waited for the snake to slither off, probably to hunt or lounge in the sun.

Ekans, or rather, Jeremiah slipped out from behind the planks and shifted into Magnus.

Turning into Magnus was strange.

With him came power, this unchallenged, beatable sense of authority. And his powers...

Wizards and witches gave dragons names, stuck labels on them; 'Hungarian', 'Chinese'... They didn't understand that dragons, like people, were different and unique. That like people they were good and bad. And like people they had their own system, their own politics which even wizards refused to acknowledge. And Magnus, had been a very, very important dragon in this system...

He had been powerful because of his ability to find things; objects, people, places. By using a sixth sense.

No one, not even the person that he lived on inside, knew how it worked.

"He's apparated close to a building owned by a wizarding family, I think it's their house." Magnus said, "he seems to be waiting for them to leave..."

Ekans smiled. Lokks like she wasn't the only one with dirty hands.

"How long will it take us to get there?"

"It's not far for me if I go by air, but then we'll be seen so I'll fly us halfway there and then Galacian can take over."

"Brilliant! Let's go!"

Magnus spread his black wings and took off, spiralling higher and higher into the cold air like a black, inky splat against the cloudy grey sky before zooming of into the distance with one beat of his strong wings.


	7. THANX FOR 300 VIEWS!

I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR 300 VIEWS TO THIS STORY!

Next chapter will be coming online soon!


	8. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 - Malfoy Manor**

The Malfoys would be leaving soon, Lucius had said that he had important business to attend to in the ministry and his wife wanted to take their son to visit their Gringotts vault. He had noted how they involved their son in money and wizarding politics from an early age.

Yet the boy still...worried him. He wasn't like his father, mother or even like any of his death eaters had been at his age.

Narcissa had been so unbelievably vain and easy to trick, his father had been set firmly on money and power, which even from an early age he sought to get through illegal means. And then there was his aunt... Bellatrix had been a full believer in the cause even from an early age. She had been a sadistic bully of a child and he had deduced from the snippets of conversations that his death eaters had about her she liked torturing animals and her guilty pleasure was murder. In other words, a younger, slightly less powerful female version of him only less subtle.

Draco displayed none of these things. He was just an opinion-less parrot that repeated anything it was told. He wasn't a problem now but in a few years, who new what he might think of the cause his family followed? And what would he do about it?

And the dark lord knew the Order, they would give him a choice, and in a few years, what would he choose?

The Malfoys had left. He guessed that they had apparated. They would be gone for a long time.

Breaking into their house was no problem... Even the most expensive wizarding protection was no match for his skill. The house elves were easily confounded and now came the hard part, finding what he wanted...

"Now I've kept quiet this whole way, care to elaborate why we're even doing this in the first place." Magnus asked her as he circled over the treetops, looking for a place to land.

Ekans sighed, "I've already told you, we need to find out if-"

"You can't lie to me." Magnus' tone was stern and he was right. Out of all of her animals, he had been with her the longest. She had found him when she was seven years old, a couple of other dragons had tricked him and he had gotten himself captured by a wizard, this wizard had forced him to consume a potion called 'Merlin's Opals', it was a potion that made the consumer go insane for a temporary amount of time. He had been set loose in the area of the slightly less known, shadier alleys and streets that surrounded Diedon and Knocturn alley. He had torched half of the place and over 70 people were killed and even more injured. Ekans had somehow managed to kill him and...well...

Ekans was a skinwalker. And for a skinwalker to obtain the spirit of an animal, they had to drink their blood.

With Magnus she had learned why she was different, why the strength, the speed, the superior senses, why the turquoise eyes. With Magnus she had learned how to control her power. And he was right, she couldn't lie to him.

""He's my half brother," It sounded strange just coming out of her mouth, alien, unnatural, "I want to know if, if..."

"If he's anything like Marvolo was." Magnus finished.

She remembered how that first meeting had went;

Ekans had seen her wand do strange things before, it had resurrected her, burned Prim's hand when she held it, it moved of it's own accord, you name it. But it had never written anything like this, she had always thought that it had just absorbed too much magical energy or something. This wasn't impossible, seeing as it's old master was Salazar Slytherin, she knew that by the initials, S.S, scratched into the bottom of the wand with what she guessed was a knife. That and it always rolled towards her whenever she said his name.

"You would kill your own blood?" It wrote in a thick, blood like, inky green substance that leaked from it's tip.

"What is going on here?" The man demanded.

"You never shut up, do you..." The wand wrote and Ekans bit the inside of her mouth to keep herself from smiling.

"You mind what you write! You might be a wand but you're insolent!" He was yelling now, he was certainly getting very pissed.

"Don't. Interrupt. Me!" The wand wrote and then underlined it twice.

"Why does everyone here have anger problems?" Ekans asked herself.

"Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely," It underlined this as well," interrupted. This child as it so happens is telling the truth."

"Is someone levitating this wand..."

The wand was clearly getting enraged because it instantly scrawled angrily, "IF YOU DON'T SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH THEN I WILL STICK MYSELF DOWN YOUR FUCKING THROAT YOU LITTLE PIECE OF BALD SHIT!"

The dark lord was shocked, no body, not even a wand, had ever spoken to him in that way. And he was offended.

"Now as I was saying, this girl is in fact the daughter of Merope Gaunt and some bloke that I don't know, mother was a tad of a whore you see."

"Don't. You. Dare. Insult. My. Mother." The dark lord hissed through gritted teeth.

The wand ignored this, "Now she was murdered when she was 7, she remained this age throughout the time that she was a ghost and then-"

"You died but then came back to life?" He looked at her inquisitively.

Ekans groaned mentally, "Yes."

He looked at her again, she could almost see the wheels in his head turning.

The wand ignored him again. "Then she was resurrected by none other than the great and powerful me!"

"Great?" Ekans asked.

"Powerful?" The dark lord echoed.

"Oh shut up both of you and by the way, if you kill her then I kill you, end of that conversation."

Then, somehow, the wand had persuaded and threatened him into taking Ekans with him.

"I'm landing now, Gal, get ready." Magnus said. His wings beating a little slower as he lowered them down to the ground.

"So what's up with bald shit anyway, thought you guys were related or something like that."

"Yeah. But I don't exactly trust him. So, that's the point of this whole thing."

"We're getting closer." Galacian said, he was beginning to get excited, this was theost fin he'd had since the water pipe burst when he bit it accidentally.

Now Ekans could see the outline of a grand, exquisite looking building.

"That looks expensive... Let's smash it!"

"Unfortunately for you," Ekans said as she turned into Jeremiah, "not everyone here is a psychotic teenage wolf."

By now Jeremiah was crawling through the gutter that by the smell Ekans suspected led to the water closet.

"Anything on where he is in the house, Magnus?"

"He's hearing down into a room that I'm getting the feeling there's a lot of concentrated magic in. It's in the underground cellars of the house."

"How can we get there?"

"Just follow this pipe until it turns down and then swerve right and you'll come out near the corner."

"Right, thanks." Ekans chatted as Jeremiah slunk down the pipes.

"This is what that little bitch broke into someone's house to steal?" Galacian asked as Ekans spread the parchment on the floor of the cellar.

"Yeah... But why?" This made no sense. Why would he want to steal this of all thongs and then he didn't even steal it.

"Look." Magnus commanded and they all glanced down. The parchment looked moderately new, it looked last like it had been lying there for a reasonable amount of time. The writing on them was fairly hard to read because of the way it was written. It was hand written in an italic script. It was a letter.

Ekans skimmed through it, it was mostly about money, a boy called Draco that sounded like a hell of a bore to Ekans. Also there was some mention of a dark lord...

"Grindelwald?" Magnus wondered, Grindelwald I had been a big thing before Ekans was resurrected.

"No, it says here that they think he's dead, and that they want to get a firmer position because people suspect then of being in the inner circle, but why would he want... Oh shit!"

"What? What shit?" Jeremiah bubbled.

This had been something that the Ekans had suspected for a while. Even as a ghost, she had heard rumours, whispers about this person. There was no doubt about it.

Her brother was the dark lord.

But why did the letter say that he was dead?


	9. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 - werewolf**

So what do we do now?" Galacian asked, his voice lacking it's usual arrogance. Even he was disturbed and tired by what they had discovered.

"Well we know that he was and probably still is a highly dangerous and powerful dark lord, we know-"

"I know what we fucking know," Galacian shrilled, his impatience quickly returning, " but what do we DO?! "

"I don't know...I mean we can't run and we can't exactly stay and expect to stay in one piece for a long period of time..." Everyone went quiet and thought about the situation. Turned it over, twisted it, observed it from different angles and perspectives as they all searched for a solution.

"There's a werewolf up ahead, " magnus said distractedly, his voice trailing off, "maybe we should see what it's about..."

Ekans shrugged and peered upwards, she could see that the sky had turned a pinkish red colour with a few stars carelessly scattered across it. She hadn't realised that it was so late.

"I guess we should check it out..." Ducking under a branch, she padded across the forest floor and stood with her hands stuck in her pockets and eyes already picking out the outline of a human shaped silhouette.

"Who are you?"

The person sneered, "Should I kill you now or save you for when I'm a wolf? I think I'll save you...I haven't had a good kill in months."

"Dumb bitch," Galacian's over proud confidence had returned, "does he know who we are."

"Don't try to run away little girl," he began to creep towards her. She could see that he had a ragged, hungry face that was worn hard by hunger and battle scars with a sadistic smile splattered across it, "when the moon rises there won't be anywhere you can run that I can't catch you-"

"Are you just going to stand there," Galacian's impatience was contagious, "or are you going to make a move."

He stopped moving. "Well, well, well," he tilted his head to one side, "it wants to die doesn't it."

He paused for a while and then jumped, even with her inhuman reactions and speed, Ekans still got a small scratch on her shoulder, cutting it open slightly.

"You're pretty fast for a normal, you get bitten? You think you're so strong now that you're a werewolf?" He was taunting her now but Ekans had spent enough time with Galacian to know how to keep a lid on her temper.

"You," she said coldly, "are beginning to annoy me you know. " she transformed into Galacian who snarled and flicked his tail, his turquoise eyes boring into the werewolf. His lips drawn back in a snarl, displaying all his teeth that were unnaturally sharp even for a wolf.

"Well shit," the werewolf muttered, "umm...do I have to kneel down or something?"

"The fuck?" Galacian asked the world. This had never, ever happened before. I mean sure they'd killed people and those people had been scared out of their lives but none of them had ever reacted like they were royalty or something.

"You see I've never met a, you know, one of you before so I don't know what I'm s'posed to do."

Ekans transformed back into herself.

"Yo know who I am?" That was weird...

"Well I'm a freaking werewolf! Of course I've heard of skin walkers! Thingy, what does it go like again?" He frowned muttering things, as if trying to remember the first sentence of something he was supposed to memorise, "the skin walker is the king-"

"You mean lord, the skin walker is the lord of all animals, trees part to let them pass and all beasts are silent in their regal presence, of all creatures they are the greatest and the greatest crime now forgotten is-"

"To draw one's blood." He finished, looking at the scratch on her shoulder with dismay.

"This is nothing, it'll be gone in a few days." She had to admit, she was flattered. Even Galacian had never thought himself to be famous. And that was certainly something.

"Anyway," he looked rather embarrassed, " I'm Fenir. Fenir Greyback."

"Ekans. Ekans Gaunt." It was nice, she thought to herself, to be recognised for who she was.

"What were you doing?" He asked her, his red eyes boring into her. As she tried to pass him in the corridor, his eyes instantly zoning in on the scratch across her shoulder.

"I went for a walk and scratched my shoulder on a branch. It's nothing to worry about. It won't even leave a scar" She was going to have to tread carefully here, she did not trust the person standing in front of her one little bit.

"I am not 'worried' I just don't trust you." He then turned away and walked off, his snake slithering after him.

"Oh I know you don't care," Ekans thought to herself as she began to tread up the stairs. "But then I don't really give a fuck about you do I so no ones upset really."

Magnus sighed, he hated the thought of Ekans being deprived of a brother yet again.


	10. Chapter 8

**Here is what I believe is the 8th chapter and I have an important message for you:**

**If you have a soul then I command you to follow these following people because they are all amazing little pieces of banana/peanut butter on carrot/pancakes with maple syrup (these are all foods I like) cupcakes!**

**Gunsnroses007, Jake Atlas, Ynot7, Takahashi Amaya **

Chapter 8

_He lunges at me, he thinks that just because he's a werewolf he's stronger than me... he isn't._

_It's just too easy... it's almost like they aren't trying._

_I let him get a hit on my back though even Fenir, who's decided to help me fight these mother-fucking whores off can see that I'm just playing with them._

"Stop messing around, we need to get back or else HE'LL get suspicious again." _I groan, I fucking hate that little piece of shit, doesn't he even know who we are?_

_Oh well... I might as well or else she'll get pissed and nag at me again._

_I snap his neck and feel his wet, wolf-flavored blood dribble down the side of my mouth. I savour the moment, the feeling of ttaking another's life, the way the blood tastes; salty and sweetened with the taste of victory before dropping his dead lifeless body to the floor and turning to Fenir who looks like our thoughts mirror each other perfectly._

"Gotta go,"_ I growl at him in wolf, _"or else Ekans' brother will be pissed."

_He raises the place where had he been in human form his eyebrows would have been, he's the only person that Ekans trusts enough to know about her unusual...relative._

Wait wait wait... Ekans? WTF!

The dark lord woke up and stood up instantly, he had been in that imposter's mind all along? That was such a disgusting thought he nearly choked on his own distaste.

He picked up his wand, his 'sister' would have a couple of questions to answer.

"You're going to torture her?" Nagini asked him, dismayed. Unlike him, his snake appeared to be able to easily tolerate his so called sibling. Liked her even. It disgusted him.

He walked out of the room as quickly as he could. His snake still followed him.

"You can't just do that to her I mean, what if she didn't do... whatever it is that she's done besides, what about the wand?"

The dark lord sighed, "look, we'll go to her room and if she's there then I'll say that she's innocent."

Nagini clenched her teeth and we quicked her movements, the girl had better be there, her master hadn't had been bottling up all of his sadistic feelings for a while and the constant worry about his death eaters, Dumbledore and the Potter boy wasn't helping...

His pace slowed and she finally caught up with him when he began to near her door.

He reached out, turned the handle and poked his head around.

She lay there, fast asleep by the looks of it, her breathing deep and relaxed, her thick dark black hair fluttering slightly with every single exhale.

Her master stiffened all over and closed the door, not bothering to do do quietly.

She was about to leave too but, there was something wrong, the way that the girl's heart was beating, it wasn't slow and relaxed like she was making it out to be, it was fast, coiled and angry.

Gently, Nagini opened the door with her nose and slithered inside, hoping the shadows would conceal her. The girl's eyes opened. Turquoise eyes met yellow ones and she held the snakes gaze, both of them stayed that way, unmoving and still, waiting for the other to move for a long time. Ekans blinked and sat up.

"Do you know what I am?" She asked the snake in parseltounge, tilting her head to the side, "do you know what we are?"

For a while Nagini was speechless, she knew just as well as her master did that only the heirs of Slytherin could speak parseltounge.

"No. Are you saying that you aren't a human?"

The girl stood up and turned around. Across her back there were three gigantic slashes, leading from the top of her right shoulder to just above her left hip. They looked as if they had been made by a vicious animal. Bit it wasn't how she'd got those wounds or who had made them, it was her blood that unnerved the snake; it was the brightest, thickest blood she had every seen. It seemed to be giving off it's own, red, murderous light that ignited the air around it in a way that set her skin on edge.

"What are you?" She asked flatly as she watched a scab quite literally form right there in front of her. By the time about half a minute had passed, the three scratches looked like there wouldn't even be so much as a scar left.

Ekans sighed and sat down, crossing her legs, she had a lot of explaining ahead of her...

The dark lord paced up and down his room, he knew that this child wasn't normal. Even for his standards and that was sating something.

Firstly, there was the whole mind-dream thing. Secondly, there was the fact that this child could turn into animals the appeared to be able to talk to her and seeing as he'd never been on especially friendly terms with an animangus, he didn't know whether that was something to worry about or not. Thirdly, she knew who Fenir was and that meant that, as unlikely as it was, she could turn him against him and though Fenir himself wasn't a problem, he did need the support of the werewolves. Fourthly, she could turn into a fucking dragon for chrissake that meant that she could burn the whole house down if he got on her nerves.

Ugh! When did his life get so complicated?

Oh well, he should probably try to get onto his side. She could after all, become useful to him in the long run. But first he had to learn about her, Learn her weaknesses, her strengths, observe how the two touched and could be turned into each other. Also knowing a little about her family history would help after all, good old fashioned black mail had never let him down.

But how could he... Oh yes! Of course!

An idea grew and unfolded in his twisted mind like a deadly, poisonous flower. He smiled sadistically to himself and waves his wand in elegant circles; his spiralling movements taking the shape of a silver goblet.

He knew what he had to do besides, he remembered how he had first, before Dumbledore had stepped in and messed it all up, dealt with Severus' doubtful loyalty.

/flashback/

"You summoned me here, my lord." He turned and saw Severus standing there, younger than he was now with his hair still slightly stringy from his rapidly fading adolescence, his face hidden by his mask.

"Indeed I did," he crossed the room and beckoned for his new death eater to follow him, stopping near a stone carved, well-like column with a bowl like top that looked like it would hold a large amount of liquid, "now tell me, do you know what this is, Snape?"

"It's a penesive, my lord." He still said my lord without the necessary fear and awe in his voice, he wasn't a true follower yet and the dark lord had a feeling as he searched those black eyes with his red ones that this one wasn't going to come quietly.

"And do you know," he wanted to get to the point quickly, "why I summoned you here?"

"No, my lord." He said it like question. What a true display of insolence.

"Well Snape," he turner towards the young man fully now, his red eyes fixing onto his black ones, chiselling fear into them, letting them know what was going to happen. He reached out and traced the rim of the penesive, "I need, to see your memories."

"My memories?" He had asked another question, good for him he was in a patient mood today.

"Yes Snape," he had been one of the first people who called him by his family name. Severus hated it. He had learned why soon enough.

It ended out that he'd been abused. Beaten bloody ever night by his drunken father and drug junkie of a mother. It was clear to see that even despite this, he liked his mother more, that was why the name 'Snape' irritated him so much. He wanted to be a Prince and instead he was a Snape. The dark lord could understood him more than he let on.

/flashback/

"Don't, please," his snake pleaded as he knelt down by the what the child slept on; a bundle of robes? Disgraceful.

"Why? What did she ever do to you?" The snake was now just stating her opinion, helpless people did that he had noticed. Yet the snake was hiding something, guarding something that no matter how he probed the animal's mind he couldn't discover.

"I'm not going to kill her," he said slowly, lifting up the goblet, it's stem held between his unnaturally long fingers, "I just need to know if I can trust her."

He pressed his wand to her temple and let the memories pour out.


	11. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The dark lord stood there, watching the thoughts and memories of the child travel around the penesive in elegant, elaborate swirls.

The silvery lights cast strange shadows on the walls and objects. He looked down at the memories.

He had seen them before, many times but still. These ones seemed...different somehow. Darker, more dangerous, did he really want to see them?

He shook that thought off. He had them he might as well...

He took a breath and plunged in.

He was standing in a dim-lit alley. Houses on either side, signs of poverty; broken bottles, rats, a few drunken people staggering about. He looked around for the girl but couldn't find her.

One man entered the alley.

He had never seen him before so he must be someone only his 'sister' knew about.

The man staggered slightly, he was drunk and out of the corner of his eye, the dark lord thought he saw a flicker of movement behind him. Hidden in the shadows.

The man walked closer to where the flash had come from and then a little blade flashed out. The man crumpled over. His blood stained the cobblestones. He was dead. Whatever that had been, it had murdered him.

Something moved, the murderer, a little closer to the light and he was surprised, even a little shocked to see the outline of a small child, only about 5 or 6 years old.

"Maybe next time you won't hurt your family." It said, the voice was surprisingly harsh and hardened. It didn't sound like the voice of a young child. The child smiled, showing it's teeth that were unsettlingly sharp for a human. He looked down and realised that the drunk wasn't dead but he was staring up at the child with a look of horror and the strange acceptance that the dark lord had seen many times in the eyes of his victims. Acceptance that they were going to die.

The child knelt down by the now dead drunk and slit his pockets, a few coins fell out and the child picked them up. A thief as well as a murderer. How lovely.

Then the child stood up and turned to leave, walking toward the entrance of the alley where it looked a little lighter; he would be able to see who it was, when they sudden went rigid all over. He paused, it would be better to observe from a little distance.

"What the fuck?" the child growled. So young and already swearing. What good parents this child must have.

Then the child took off down the alley, which was a lot longer that he had originally thought it to be. Hell they were a fast runner. Even with his longer legs and adult strength they were a hard person to keep up with.

The child turned a corner and he was hit by two equally strange things at the same time.

The first, the whole of the next alley was aflame and he could smell the familiar smell of burning flesh and wood. Hear the agonised screams of the dying. But this was no ordinary fire, there, in the middle of it was a black dragon. The second, the swearing, thieving little murdering child was his little 'sister', Ekans.


	12. Chapter 10

Chapter 11

For a moment they both just stood there. Both with completely different points of view.

He sneaked a glance at the girl, she was just standing there, staring at the flames and the frothing dragon in front of her, a million thoughts wheeling through her head.

She took a deep breath and then ran towards the fire.

Great, murdering, thieving, swearing AND suicidal? Now that was just overkill.

Although, the girl seemed to be doing a good job...

Ekans slid under a burning piece of timber and leapt onto the dragons back. It screamed and tore at the air blindly at something that only it could see. She noticed that it was frothing at the sides of it´s mouth and that it´s eyes were a milky opal colour. Strange.

It roared and spat forth more fire. As if there wasn´t enough already she thought sarcastically as she began to slowly crawl up the dragon´s back. The prickly hot spikes burning her hands.

The dark lord watched all this and he had to admit, he was impressed. That girl had a lot of nerve, fighting the dragon like that and she looked like she could kill it.

The dragon, perhaps realising what was going on being it, shook itself vigorously and sent Ekans flying off it and crashing into a wall.

"Or maybe not." the dark lord thought flatly as he observed. But the strange thing was that the place where Ekans had hit the wall there were now a series of cracks, as if it had been a stone that had been flung at it, not a child. Interesting.

Dazed and seeing stars, Ekans stood up shakily. As she shook her head to clear it she saw the dragon turning it´s head towards her, its pupil-less eyes staring blankly at her.

"This isn´t good." she muttered breaking into a run.

The dragon spat out some flames after her. but it was beginning to get tired. She could use that.

She flung herself onto it´s back again. Clinging tightly as she scrambled, slipping slightly on the scales.

she was in the right spot and she took hold of one of the scales with both hands and pulled.

The dragon screamed. Red and gold flames shot into the air like aggressive, out of control animals swooping without a purpose through the air.. It´s talons raked the ground. Searching for a way to make the pain stop. It´s wings becoming a flurry of black in the air.

She flung the scale aside and plunged her hand into the vulnerable, tender, greyish flesh that she had just uncovered. The dragon buckled and thrashed again. It's agonised screams almost unbearable to hear. Almost...

The dark lord stood unmoving, watching the girl and dragon locked in their battle. The child, even if no relation to him, was a force to be reckoned with. She was fighting a dragon without the use of a wand and he knew from when he had studied different magical creatures to see which ones he could use for his cause so he knew that dragons had an extremely thick and tough hide that were not only bullet-poof but also acted as a shield and numbed the damage done by spells, meaning it was impossible to control dragons by magical force. Also their scales were practically impregnable so knives and other metal weapons were useless. Yet the child had ripped a scale out and clawed though the dragon's skin with her bare hands like it was nothing.

That wasn't the only strange thing about her...

Also, the dragon was worrying him. It was clearly insane.

But how?

Dragons had always appeared to be the mentally stable, powerful even, so witches and wizards had dealt with rogue dragons when they came but generally left the species alone.

Screeching and writhing the dragon flung itself towards him, seemingly trying to throw the girl off it's back and he leapt out of it's way. He knew it couldn't hurt him, but instincts remained.

As it passed him, he had a chance to observe a slight change in it's eyes; a black pupil was beginning to form in the centre of it's right eye and a steely, formidable grey iris was beginning to pool it's colour around it.

As for the left eye...

It chilled him to the bone.

Instead of the usual eye white, iris and pupil, there was an abyss like black that speard from corner to corner, resembling a dark and menacing black cave. On the left side of the eye, there was a crescent moon shaped sliver of white that he could've sworn glowed every time the dragon belched forth it's flame, as if a dark force was pulsing through it...

He noted that as this happened, the dragon's movements seemed to be becoming more controlled. As if the madness was leaving it's body...

Yep, definitely a spell.

But who would do something like that?

An ear piercing shriek of pain snapped him back to reality, or rather, Ekans' reality. The child was coated from head to toe in the dragons blood but she was acting as if this was perfectly normal. Maybe it was. The dragon seemed to be giving up the fight, it had stopped it's thrashing and seemed to be waiting for the pain to end. It was strange to see such a 'human' action in a formerly rabid beast.

Ekans seemed to be under great strain now, and soon a loud, resonating crack echoed along the tarnished remains of the alley ways. She had reached and snapped it's spine, killing it.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, the dragons eyes bulging, it's Pupil rolling upwards as it's muscles lost control and shut them forever, the way it's body fell, it's wings looking like two billowing black sails falling after it. The thudding sound it made, confirming the girls victory, echoed in his ears.

He was impressed.

The girl would make a fine death eater...

She sat there on the dragon's back, stunned by what she had just done.

"What the actual fuck just happened then?" She asked the world, not expecting and answer. He allowed himself a rueful smile, the joys of first murders... He understood all too well.

"_What just happened_," A voice said suddenly, "_is that you just released me from the madness, skin walker, thank you_."

"WHO THE BLOODY FUCK ARE YOU!" The child seemed to know this person as well as he did.

The voice sighed, it sounded like a wave crashing on a beach somewhere in a different life. "What happened is that you killed me." The voice explained, "_and for skin walkers to absorb the conscience of an animal they must either drink the heart's blood of the animal, or be in physical contact with their heart as they die._"

"Okay, so let's say that for one second I believe you. You are the dragon, am I right?" The girl caught on quickly, but what on earth was a skin walker?

"_Indeed I am_."

"Then you're dead. And if you're dead then how are you talking to me right now?" The girl asked inquisitively.

The voice/dragon chuckled. "_I am dead yet at the same time I am more alive than I have ever been_."

"Eh?"

"_Are you aware of your powers, child_?"

"I know that I'm a witch if that's what you mean..."

"_No young one, I mean are you aware that you are a skin walker_?"

the child stared blankly at the wall, "Ummmm..."

"_I see... A skin walker is a sort of shape shifter, they can transform into an animal whose soul is joined to theirs._"

"But... how the hell can I turn into a dragon when I'm so fucking tiny?" He smiled, the child was amusing to watch he had to admit. She was still dangerous but at least that cleared up the creepy dreams. But why did he get those in the first place?

"_Well, child, I took my body with me_." The child looked blank again, "_Look behind you_."

They both turned, expecting to see a lifeless carcass, but instead, there was nothing. He hadn't even noticed it disappear.

"Okay, I believe you, no way would someone be able to drag off a dead dragon without me noticing." she smirked, "Too bad for the neathies."

"_What_?"

"Just slang... You'll get used to it. Anyway," she put her bloody hands into her pockets and started to walk away, "This is gonna be a hard one to explain to Marv..."

"_Who_?"

"My older brother, Marvolo, he's the closest thing I have to a real parent but he really doesn't like me getting into fights..."

Fuck, There were TWO of them now. He thought angrily to himself as the memory faded, ending on the child disappearing down an alley.

He just had to hope that the next memory answered his questions...


	13. Chapter 11

I know what I said, and this isn't the complete chapter but I've kept everyone waiting for aaggeees so it feels really mean to not upload something. Anyway, I split the original chapter in half and I hope you all enjoy it! I will publish the other half soon.

Chapter 12

He found himself standing in what appeared to be a... hovel.

Revolting.

The child was sitting on the floor. She didn't look much older than she had in the memory with the dragon. He hoped that this memory would be more informative.

She wasn't alone, either.

Next to her there sat a boy, he looked about 14-15 with dark brown hair that was either naturally that colour or a lot dirtier than he thought it to be. Probably the second. He had grey brown eyes that didn't really suit him, his jaw was too square and his long, bare neck made him seem like something that had been put together at random. He was far too skinny, the unhealthy, starved sort. Ekans was the same but it suited her better.

"Marv..." Ekans began. So this was her brother. Interesting... "can you tell me a story."

The dark lord sighed. Great... this would tell him even less than the last one.

"Well... once there was a littl-"

"I mean the one about the snake."

The boy raised his eyebrows. That were too bushy in the wrong places. It made him look like he had two obese caterpillars glued to his face.

"Alright... There was a snake, it was hungry, it hid away so it's prey wouldn't see it. It's prey came closer without even realising it. Then the snake bit it and it died." He said triumphantly.

"And?"

"Well...there you are."

"What about the moral?" The dark lord just wanted to smash his head into the wall out of frustration.

"You asked for the STORY, not the MORAL. You need to be careful how you phrase your words."

The child rolled her eyes, "Can you tell me the moral."

He looked at her expectantly.

"Please." The child added as an afterthought.

"The moral is. The snake is patient. It waits in the darkness, hidden by shadows and lies. The snake is very patient when it comes to things it wants. It's victims do not suspect it. They come to it, not it to them. It lurks in the shadows, waits for the perfect moment to strike and does not strike out irrationally or out of anger. It polishes it's anger and hurts. The snake has many skins and it sheds them whenever it needs to. It's victims never know what is hiding beneath the scales. And they never know when the snake shall shed it's scales and pounce. The snake uses the element of surprise. It's victims do not suspect it and when it strikes, it's victims NEVER escape. The snake has it's venom, and there are many different types; to wound and to kill or to simply confuse and hurt. After it has killed, the snake slinks away. It is never caught and though considered evil and cruel by some. It is surviving and there is an honour in that. A crippled honour, but honour none the same."

The child was hanging onto ever word he said and the dark lord again, got that feeling that there was something going on here that he didn't know about.

"And we're the snake. Aren't we, Marv?" The child asked her brother. Her eyes shining with a light that his had always lacked.

"Yes." The child's voice was solemn. His hand went to a frayed pocket of his rags and pulled out a shimmering, golden...locket.

The dark lord's felt his heart skip a beat. There was his horocrux. How had those children got it? Unless... the child was telling the truth. His mother had sold the locket while pregnant with him, if she still had the locket then that meant that not only could this child turn into animals, she was fucking older than him.

Ouch, that stung...

He watched the children staring at the locket, the one thing that made them feel like they were more than they fought they were, the one thing that spoke of a heritage they would someday reclaim and fulfill.

This boy, her brother, ws someone that meant a lot to her. She had little in the world so what she had she clung to desperately in the fear she might lose them. He could see it in her eyes. No one had ever looked at him that way.

"Don't you ever forget that and remember, what sets us Slytherins apart from the others is that we are all of one scale. Those are our words."

Those last words seemed to hang in the air.

The memory faded.

/Next Memory/

The child and her bother stood in a street. It's cobblestones covered by dirty, gritty snow that was falling around them. Surrounding them like shredded paper. The snowflakes passing through his body with a queer sensation.

They appeared to be committing murder, he wasn't surprised.

"Y-you stay away from me!" A person snarled, trying to disguise their fear with a sneer. It was so simple to see through it.

"Why should we?" Marvolo asked, tilting his head to the side, a strange look burning in his grey brown eyes.

"You don't stay away from other people, do you." Ekans said.

The person backed away from them and bared it's fangs, that were stained with dark red blood. Vampire.

"You can't kill me." The vampire laughed. It's fangs glinting in the moonlight as it lunged at them.

Marvolo's hand flashed out and a spell that he'd never seen before sped through the air towards the vampire.

The vampire seemed to know what it was because it swore and dodged, the spell brushed the vampire's shoulder. Burning it's way through.

The vampire gasped, "Not ad for someone with inly 2 years of training at Hogwarts."

Marvolo's jaw tightened a little.

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO MY BROTHER LIKE THAT!" this was the first time in this memory that he had seen her show emotion.

"And a little skin walker as well," The vampire seemed to know about these creatures. Maybe this would answer his questions. "If it weren't for the laws then you would be dead. But lucky for you your blood would poison me."

Marvolo's eyes flickered to his sister, clearly she hadn't told him.

"But I can still kill you." The vampire lunged again. this time at Ekans.

He knew that she couldn't be hurt too badly or killed, she was alive and mostly unharmed. But he still felt an unusual emoyion rise when he thought of the child being harmed. How strange.

The child dodged. Clearing more ground than a natural human should've been able to. The child looked surprised at her own ability. Shocked, afraid even.

The vampire lunged again. This time something snapped into focus inside the girl and while dodging the vampire's attacks, she tore her own skin a little. It was redder than any blood that he had ever seen before and it seemed to ooze with an unnerving thickness.

Now, when the vampire lunged, She raised her bleeding hand and shoved it into the vampire's mouth.

Confusion, realisation and then death were it's dying emotions.

"You monster..." It whispered as it's body withered, shrinking like a dying flower before turning into silver, san-like grains that either blew away in the wind or were smothered by the snow.

Ekans collapsed. Whether of physical exhaustion or because of something else, he didn't know.

She sank up to her knees in the snow and buried her face in her hands.

"Ek..." Her brother moved forwards to comfort her.

"Look at me." She whispered.

"What?"

"LOOK AT ME! I'M A MONSTER! MY BLOOD IS DIFFERENT, MY EYES ARE DIFFERENT, THE WAY I MOVE IS DIFFERENT, EVERYTHING ABOUT ME IS DIFFERENET! I'M A MONSTER!" Ekans was screaming now.

His pity for the girl increased without his knowing it. He knew how she felt; It's hard to be special and even more so to be unique.

He sighed, this child was going down the same road as him.

Not that that was a bad thing, but it meant the competition was a little harder.

"Ek..." He put his hand under her chin and forced her to look at him, "you shouldn't think that besides, even if you are a monster, then you're still my little sister before that."

The dark Lord's stomach twisted painfully but fortunately, the memory faded.

/Next Memory/

Snow swirled around the child's feet as she walked. It was still in the middle of winter. Life must be hard.

He walked behind her, the roaring of the wing made it hard to make out her footsteps and the snow almost seemed to be forming a white wall between them. But it was thanks to this that he noticed the person's shadow.

They or rather, she, were being followed.

The person's footsteps were slightly clumsier than hers and he guessed that they were a human. Thank god, he didn't think he would be able to take any more dragons or vampires.

The person was slowly closing in on her and managed to cover her mouth and twist her hands behind her back. He didn't see what happened, a flurry of snow caused by her struggle blocked his line of sight but he could hear her screams piercing the air, droning on and on. A trickle of blood oozed towards him. it didn't freeze in the cold and he decided that he didn't want to know why.

The person suddenly let go of the girl and apparated. Disgusting, he didn't even bother to fight.

He turned his attention to the child. She sat there clutching her arm, something had been cut into it, a symbol or just a plain cut. But why had that person done that? It seemed strange.

She didn't seem in pain but then again, he'd seen people do this before, brace themselves and bravely bear the agony, no matter what.

She held her forearm down into the snow and exhaled in relief. Steam began to rise from where the two connecte. This wasn't normal.

She eventually lifted up her arm and froze in pure shock.

He leant over her and looked at the wound; It had been carved into a 'S' shape. A snake head decorated the top, he guessed it was a symbol of some sort. But what did it mean?

But whatever it meant, just looking at it filled him with a strange sort of dreading anxiety.

Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

The memory faded.

/Next memory/

The child was sitting on a... rock? Strange, clearly that meant that she wasn't in the place where she'd been for the other memories. A forest surrounded her, maybe she'd been apparated here?

_"I think you understand flying now."_

that explained it.

"Yeah."

_"I don't know if this'll bother you or if you'll want to leave after this but there is a wolf pack hunting not far from here, one of them has broken of and is heading this way."_

"Why should that bother me?"

_"He wants to kill you."_

There was a pause now, but he didn't believe that this child could be killed by a mere wolf. She'd killed a dragon, this was next to nothing to her.

"I see... well, maybe we can take him in or whatever it's called."

"I believe it's called skinning." The dragon said in a matter-of-fact voice. He had a feeling that he did that a lot.

"What would I do without you, ummm... that reminds me, do you have a name."

"In your language my name translates to 'As the moon's tears fall into the apocalypse."

"Er..."

The dragon sighed, "Just call me Magnus."

"Okie dokie. Now where is that wolf anyway?"

"He's about a few metres away. Just stay here, he'll come to you."

As if on cue, a wolf strolled out from the under-bush. The dark lord had never thought it possible, gut arrogance and self confidence were literally oozing from the animal.

It didn't try to talk, all it did was lunge and Ekans brought her hand up so that her fingertips sliced right through it's skin, under it's breast plate and through it's heart. She pulled her hand back and...licked it!

"Disgusting." The dark lord muttered. People just didn't seem to care about germs and bacteria these days.

"Heeellllloooo?" The girl called out. Probably wondering where the wolf was. That reminded him, where was it? Where did the animal's go after they were killed?

"I can hear you! You dumb bitch!" This voice sounded angry, permanently angry, cocky and inconsiderate. Just like James Potter's had. But this one had a different edge to it, almost as if they had a reason. He rather liked them, they seemed like a straight forward person. Or...wolf, was more appropriate he supposed.

"Well nice to meet you, my name's Ekans Gaunt and the dragon is Magnus."

"Hello."

_"Well nice to see that I've joined the party!"_ The wolf commented sarcastically. So far anger and cynicism seemed like his only emotions.

"Anyway, do you have a name?" Ekans asked.

_"Bitch do I look like a person with some posh-arse name? Now my slag of a mother named my brother fucking Sebastian! Mother fucking Sebastian! And did she stop there? No she didn't! Just had to call me Fucking Galacian!"_

"Is there anything you'd like us to call you?"

_"I ain't give a fuck what you call me!"_

"I think I'll call you Galacian." Ekans said flatly.

_"Bitch!"_

_"Bit of a temper problem I see." _Magnus whispered.

"_What the hell's that supposed to mean?!"_

_"Also, what did you hope to accomplish by jumping at us like that? We aren't blind you know."_

_"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME!"_

The girl rolled her eyes.

"At least I'm going to have someone to talk to now."

The memory faded again. He felt strangely...strange? To be honest, he didn't even know how he felt anymore.

/Next Memory/

This time the child stood in the hovel again. She was alone by the looks of things.

She was leaning against the wall; though it was more of a flimsy piece of wood that was leaking in some places. It looked like it was coming to winter, again. He noticed that many of the memories resolved around the cold winter months.

"Ekans." They both looked down and saw a little girl. Only about 4 years old. She had dirty blonde hair that would probably look quite pretty if she washed and combed it. She had plain, stupid looking hazel eyes that were full of innocent childish ignorance. Ekans dropped to her haunches so that their eyes would be level.

"What is it, Sulpia?" So that was her name, it sounded so very... Slytherin.

"Ekans, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Well, if you grow older, get married and then die. Does that mean that I have to marry your old husband?" Sulpia said this so seriously that he couldn't help but smile.

"Sully, 1. only an absolute bastard," Again the swearing in front of children, "marries his dead wife's sister, 2. The chances of me getting married are not very big and 3. That sort of thing just doesn't happen."

"Really! Because, well, I got all your old clothes and," She sighed and started to slowly twirl her hair with her index finger, "all that sort of thing.."

"Sully, I promise that you aren't going to be forced to marry any wackos, okay?"

"Okay." Sully whispered.

The memory faded.

/Next Memory/

Now the memories took a darker twist.

Boots sending clouds of dark, dirty snow to fly into the air, Ekans walked down another alley. This time she seemed to be going quicker than her usual walking pace. Maybe she was afraid that something was following her or something?

Maybe it was that same person that had cut her.

"Where's Sully... Magnus, have you sensed her with your power yet?"

Oh great! Just motherfucking great! Now the dragon had some sort of magic-power-hubaloo. As if he didn't have enough on his plate already.

_"Yes. I have sensed her up ahead."_ The dragon's smooth voice whispered.

Ekans relaxed considerably and quickened her pace.

"I hope nothing happens to her..." Ekans mumbled, "if she gets hurt..."

She walked on through the alley.

_"Ekans. I don't mean to alarm you, but something's heading toward your sister."_

Ekans froze.

"What is it?"

There was a pause. Then, gravely, Magnus replied.

_"A werewolf."_

She looked up and saw, winking down at her like the devil's eye, a full moon.

Ekans instantly broke into a run. Her movements sending clumps of muddy snow sailing through the air.

"Fuck. FuckfuckfuckfuckFUCKFUCK!" Ekans was yelling now, it seemed to fuel her in a strange way.

She was nearing a corner, running closure to it by the second. The distance between

"Please, please be..." She turned the corner and the Dark Lord wondered how she managed to speak at all, "okay..."

Blood was slowly oozing out from a series of enormous gashes across her little sister's body, the blood surrounded her body in such a way that made her look like an angel.

An angel with wings made of blood.

Ekans made a startled choking sound at the back of her throat and hobbled forwards.

"Sulpia... Sully..." She whispered, lifting up y the child's head and brushing away a lock of blood stained hair from her face.

"Ek..." The other child whispered. Her voice softer than the last beat of a butterfly's wing.

"Who did this. Who did this to you?" Ekans was literally screaming now. A note of desperation entering her voice.

"I don't know but t-there was a man. He took the werewolf..."

Ekans' grip on her sisters shoulder tightened and she seemed to age before his eyes. She wasn't a child anymore. Had she ever been?

Sully saw this.

"It's okay. I don't hurt, I'm just cold right now. But I'll be warm soon. won't I?"

"Yes. Yes you will."

Sully searched Ekans' eyes desperately. She knew that she was dying. And she didn't want to waste the precious time she had left.

"Ek... I'm dying." The girl whispered, as if the true, horrible realisation had just occurred to her, "I don't want to die."

"I know."

Then, unexpectedly, Ekans began to sing the most disturbing, saddest song that the dark lord had ever heard a child sing.

"Close your eyes and go to sleep,

Down in dark and in the deep,

And when you open again your eyes,

Greeted they'll be by Heaven's skies.

Clear and clean for you they'll be,

But next to you there will be no me,

Close your eyes and go to sleep,

So all those that knew you can weep,

And when you open again your eyes,

There will be a moon and stars that shine,

Looking down at you for me,

But next to you I just can't be,

So close your eyes and go to sleep,

And with the angels you will be,

But I can't go with you so this is goodbye."

The child's voice hung in the air like a ghost. The last note dying, bleeding it's forlorn melody like her sister death.

The girl's eyes began to darken, her breaths fluttering like the last beat of a butterfly's wing, eyelids slowly drooping with no force to hold them in place, closing her eyes that would never see again forever.

Somehow, through thin lips that were blue with cold and lack of blood she managed to whisper.

"I'm glad I met you."

Those were the child's final words.

Then she died.

Ekans didn't cry at first. Perhaps, like it's sometimes too cold to snow, she was too shocked, too unprepared to realise the full meaning of this.

But she did.

Her scream echoed through the alleys, finding it's way into every crack, resonating through his head as if it was a living creature that had somehow found it's way inside him. her scream was full of agony A hurt that he would never truly understand; the hurt that no one could see, the scars that people bore bravely on their souls, the hurt that they concealed but the hurt that you could still see.

The scream went on and on. Sometimes it was broken by a choked sob. As if her own misery was dragging her down to join to join her dead sister. He wanted her to stop so badly. So. Very. Badly.

Somehow, for one sudden flash of a moment, all his hate that he had built up over the years, all of it was directed at the werewolf and the man that had been responsible for it.

He wanted to kneel down next to that child and lie to them. Tell them the kind lie we all hear but never believe, that it'll be okay.

But that was only for one unique moment.

He watched the child, sobbing over a dead body, and raised his hand to touch his face. He felt water. He was crying. He grieved for a person he had never met. And now he never would.

The memory faded.

/Next Memory/

This was followed by a snippet. A snapshot that had been shortened by someone who didn't want to remember. Sully's funeral.

Nothing, but two young, inexperienced children laying down a misshapen, chipped plank over a newly dug hole.

No friends. No other family members. No eulogy.

Not even their mother was present.

/Next memory/

This memory was fairly short.

And, like the last one, it had this sort of 'edited' edge to it, like Ekans had been cutting away at it.

Almost like she didn't want to remember...

No, that wasn't like Ekans. She didn't want it to have happened at all.

Now she stood outside a small door that had been clumsily fixed into the wall by what looked like inexperienced magic. She seemed to have her ear pressed against the door, frowning.

A slight, muffled noise came from inside. It didn't sound like anything out of the ordinary to him but it clearly alarmed her.

"Marv." Her voice sounded slightly hysterical as she beat on it with her fist, "Marv, you've locked yourself in their for three days, what happened to yo-"

As if hearing her, the door slowly creaked open. Personally, he Dark Lord thought that it was a little too convenient. As if something wanted her to see this.

She seemed to sense this too, she hesitated, her anxiousness battling her suspicion internally. Eventually she poked her hand around the half open door and slowly opened it fully. Keeping her body pressed against the side of the door that faced away from the door; meaning that she could still see most of the room and if anyone shot any spells at her then the door would take most of the force of the magic. That was a clever thing to do, maybe he could grow to like this person after all. Though he highly doubted it.

Seeing that there appeared to be no immediate threat to her, Ekans timidly poked her head around the door.

He didn't know what it was she saw, but she went rigid all over, as if she had been temporarily frozen. Then she flung the door open, the chipped wooden object smashing into the wall.

He stepped inside and he could've sworn that his heart stopped working.

Blood was splattered all over the walls, also clearly committed by an inexperienced wizard or witch, the blood looked dark, black even. More like ink stains. And there, lying in the middle of the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood, was Marvolo.

His lifeless eyes were starting upwards blankly, the dark lord could see year tracks and judging by the slight ring of silver around his iris that only a very experienced eye could see, he had been under the imperius curse. His runs had been cracked open, angry slashes covered his unprotected organs and in his right hand he held a knife, it's whole blade attained with blood.

He never saw the girls full reaction, but he felt her pain. How he felt it, he didn't know.

The memory faded.

/next memory/

"Mother," Ekans asked, she looked at a rather unattractive woman that the dark lord recognised to be his mother. He didn't fall to see the murderous look in Ekans' eyes or her the hateful nor in her voice, "have you noticed anything different largely?"

"May. Why? What makes you think you can talk to my, you dumb slag."

"Well mother, two of your children have died."

"Eh?"

Ekans sighed and walked away.

"Mother was a tad of a whore, you see." The wand's words rang in his ears.

The memory faded.


	14. Chapter 12

Chapter 13

/next memory/

This, was the memory that tore the dark lord up from the inside.

Ekans walked alone, but then again, there was no one to walk with. Snow fell around her. It fell softly, the sound of the falling snowflakes forming a short of lament. But for who?

Then she stopped. She drew out her small blade though they both knew that it would be useless against a wand. Though Ekans wasn't entirely your average person.

She flared at a shape that was taking form on the snow, a person coming closer, a man.

"Who are you?" Her voice held no fear, only this gruff stubbornness.

The person didn't answer. At first.

"I shouldn't tell you this but you're going to die so I might as well," he recognised that voice, that manner of speech, but why was HE of all people here? "My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am the person that killed your siblings."

Ekans didn't hang around, she didn't slowly back away either. That was smart of her to know when to swallow her pride. She wasn't strong enough to fight off someone as powerful as Dumbledore.

He flicked his wrist and a jet of green light shot out and got her squarely on the back.

Although the dark lord knew that this wasn't the end for her, it still pained, no, agonised him to see her end her life at such a young age.

And in such a way, that there would be no one left to remember her.

First, her turquoise eyes widened her pupils and irises seemed to shrink, she dropped to her knees and then, she fell over, face first into the snow.

The falling snow stood out against her black clothing and hair, making it seen like she was disappearing, fading away into nothing.

Dumbledore walked away, not saying anything, not taking her body with him. He could've sworn that the bastard was smiling.

Must before the memory faded, a greyish, bluish ghost rose out of Ekans' body, looked down, sighed, and walked away into the falling snow.

/next memory/

Ekans seemed to be glowing with some sort of turquoise light from inside her. Like a strange short of beacon. It was oddly comforting.

She was watching a woman with long brown hair that was tied into a plait that went down to her waist, she looked about seventeen, committing murder.

"Please, please stop! I didn't do anything!" A voice pleaded, a child's voice. Not old enough to deserve death but with enough knowledge to understand. Just like Ekans.

"It's not your fault is it? Its not your bloody fault? Well who else put themselves in Slytherin! All of you are evil, you deserve to die!"

Oookkkaaayyy... This person was clearly insane.

"In not evil! I've never hurt anyone, I swear!"

"And what about the others? The dark lords, Grindelwald and the other one. What house were they in? Hufflepuff? Every single problem that the wizarding world has ever had has been cause by you filthy snakes! If you all die then the world will be reborn in the pure light of Justice!"

"Oh I'm sure you're just perfect..." The dark lord muttered. Looking at Ekans to see what she made of this, she seemed to have the same thoughts.

"B-but... A Hogwarts headmaster was a Slytherin!"

"And he was the worst. Now tell me, what's your name?"

"Hester Rayne."

The child's words were short, the sound of the person treading towards them was shortly followed by the familiar sound of a blade grinding against bone. How horrible, at least his death eaters did it with passion. This person didn't care.

"Done so quickly, you impress me, McGonagall."

They turned and saw the man that had murdered Ekans and her family. Mother-fucking Dumbledore.

"McGonagall?" He repeated. So this was the old hag that was going to help raise the future death eaters. How lovely... Not.

"I thought I told you to call me Minerva." She smiled flirtatiously. The dark lord wanted to retch. Preferably in her face.

She then walked towards him and they both walked off. Their conversation turning onto a murmur and then disappearing altogether.

Ekans walked to the child and knelt down beside them, taking hold of their hands. How she managed to touch them eluded him.

He peeked over her shoulder to look at the child's wounds. He saw that, crudely carved into her face with a knife, was a large 'S' shape, Ekans had the same scar on her forearm. But what did it mean?

The child's eyes fluttered open. He doubted they could even feel the pain, heck, they probably couldn't feel anything.

"Who are you?" They didn't sound afraid, "and why are you glowing?"

"I'm a ghost. I died, like you're going to but you won't be a ghost like me." She added the last words as an after thought, "My name is Ekans Gaunt."

The child's eyes widened. Clearly Gaunt was a name that people knew.

"I should've stayed at home. They beat me, but it was better than dying." The child began to cry. It was a pained, hopeless sound. But hearing Ekans cry had been worse.

"No you shouldn't have. Besides, you can't do anything about it now." He was surprised by how mature Ekans sounded.

The child nodded.

Then they closed their eyes, let their head droop and passed into... Wherever the hell dead people went.

Ekans didn't let go of their hands for a long time, it looked sort of like she was guiding them, leading then into a happy, warm place where there was no pain, hunger or sadness. A place that she deserved to go to.

He watched Ekans, this must be hard for her, to have to watch so much suffering and act like an adult at such a young age.

Evem he hadn't had to do that, and life had been hard for him in it's own way.

/next memory/

"Oh come on James, don't be such a wuss it's only a little blood." The dark lord and his sister looked down and saw Lily Evans, her blood coloured red hair shimmering with each little toss and turn of her head, it's glossy curls bouncing along her shoulders, her green eyes sparkling like a million green stars. Jesus Christ he hated that little whore so much...

"I know, I know..." James laughed reaching down to help her. His unruly messy black hair looked almost identical from when he had last seen him. The thought that James Potter was so close to his death made the dark lord smile inwardly.

He helped her heave what looked like a child's dead body out into the middle of the alley and he noticed something moving behind them.

James saw it as well, "Look, Evans darling, that filthy bitch is back."

Lily turned, her lips drawn back in a snarl as she whipped around, he realised that what he had at first mistaken for a wand was in fact a knife, up to it's carved hilt in blood.

"Lumos!" James barked, his wand tip igniting in white flame, casting ghastly shadows over the scene and illuminating the face of a old, poor looking woman.

Lily sneered and she said in a mocking tone, twirling her knife playfully, "I see you've come crawling back, want me to slice another little bit off you? Maybe better yet, I'll cut myself a little slice of your grandson, maybe that'll get you to leave us alone. You dumb bitch."

The woman stumbled forwards, tears glittering in her old eyes, running down her face and washing away some of the blood that was splattering across her cheeks.

"Why don't you say something? Cat got your tongue?" Lily teased again. The woman opened her mouth to speak and spat forwards a spurt of blood.

"They cut off her tongue." Ekans said next to him, her voice was so quiet but somehow he still heard her. He was full of disgust; he'd done a great deal terrible things, he'd seen his death eaters do even worse but never, ever had he ever done something like that, nor had any of his followers. Or at least that he knew of.

Lily laughed, it was a pretty sound, but it was far too fake. There was no happiness in it.

"You want your grandson back, you think that you can save him." Ekans' hands were clenched at her side, her uneven fingernails digging into her palms as Lily's taunts filled the air.

"Well, too bad," She smiled innocently, "Potter, do what you do best for me darling."

James grinned at her and then picked up the child's dead body, the dark lord was disgusted by how they, knowing full well that the child was dead used their knowledge to inflict unnecessary pain on another person, he opened the child's mouth and placed one hand on the bottom jaw and his other on the top.

Realising what was going on before him, the old woman ran forwards some sort of horrible choking sound coming from her throat.

James pushed, the sound of the bones snapping and the blood gushing from the youngsters split head. He had ripped the child's jaw off. Whats a horrib;e, horrible way to die.

The woman screamed, or at least that was what it sounded like.

He felt absolutely disgusted, he had never hated someone as much as he did in that one moment.

Lilly smirked as the woman fell to her knees, the child's blood forming a sort of lake around her. As she and James left the alley, she discretely stuck her knife in the woman's side; pushing it up to the hilt.

Ekans walked and stood over the two dead bodies.

She glared after the two disappearing people.

"The snake remembers, Lily Evans and James Potter," She said murderously, turning her head to look at the corpse again, "The snake remembers."

_I know that this was kinda short but I'm hoping to keep uploading this bit by bit. _


	15. Chapter 13

THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR ALL THOSE VIEWS! IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE LIKE MY STORY AND ARE ACTUALLY READING WHAT I WRITE!

Anyway, feel free to check out some of the awesome peeps that are following me and please do review because I would really like to see your opinions!


	16. Chapter 14

This is the last memory chapter thingy.

I know that I have gone completely overboard with these memories but please understand that this is a crucial part in the story and yes, I will return to what the story was like before and please do follow, favourite or review this story, it really warms my heart to see that so many people are reading this.

/Next memory/

"Oh come on Sirius," a lazy, bothered voice yawned behind Ek, she turned and saw three men standing beside a wall, the white flames of their wand tips illuminating their faces. The dark lord recognised then instantly; Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Alastor Moody.

There was a girl with them, she had long, black hair that was plaited and wound into a bun, big, blue eyes that have her this sense of innocence and pale, olive coloured skin that brought out the brightness of her eyes. Sirius had his hand trailing up her thigh, Alastor moody had a mother, still clutching her new born baby to her chest and looking with teary horror at a dead body that was suspended in mid air next to her. Remus was just standing there looking at the sky with an expression of disgust and snootiness.

"Oh come on Moony, it's only a little fun..." sirius then pushed his hand upwards. And the girls eyes teared over.

The dark lord was over come with a sudden desire to cover Ekans' eyes and to shriek the most vile of curses at the young man.

I mean seriously, he was in PUBLIC also he was taking her in front of a child. Okay, maybe not so much of a child but still...

Ekans sighed, "people these days..." She glanced up at the people in mid air and the Dark Lord decided then and there that the next time he saw Sirius Black he would cut his dick off and sick it up that Bastard's arse. Only hole it hasn't been in.

"Hurry up both of you, Albus is waiting." Alastor concluded eventually, completely ignoring or not caring what was going on beside him. With a flick of his and the bodies all fell to the floor with dull, lifeless thuds.

"He killed a baby," Ekans said looking at the dead youngster, "I mean, I know that the world isn't perfect but to kill a baby."

"Uhhh..." Sirius grunted flinging the girl to the floor, "you're no fun. Anyway, this will only take a sec."

He Yanked the girl up by her hair and the sound of ripping fabric shortly followed.

The dark lord pretended to be immensely interested in the dead bodies.

"Fine," Sirius threw the girl to the floor, she was shaking uncontrollably and silent tears were dripping down her face. "Let's go."

The men walked off, but just before the memory faded, Alastor shot a spell over his shoulder and the girl fell to the floor, dead.

"The snake does not forget." Ekans spat, clearly she was getting tired of saying this all the time and not being able to do anything about it.

/next memory/

This memory was tinged with a sense of finality. If there was such a word.

Ekans walked down a street, the bluish glow that enjoyed from her body the only source of light. It was nearly dawn, though he doubted Ekans cared, when you can't die, you tend to stop caring.

Suddenly she stopped. He almost walked into her. Or through her was probably more appropriate.

She turned her head, as if listening for something: almost like something was calling to her.

She turned fully and walked off, she skiff down into ditch t hough the dark lord wondered why she didn't bother to float down but, Eh, no one cared.

She knelt down next to something, the day lord Pierre over her shoulder, there, glistening in the mud was the very same wand that she'd had with her when they first met. The wand of Salazar Slytherin.

She reached out and her hand gives uncertainly on the site: ghosts couldn't hold objects, everyone knew that.

In the end she shrugged and picked it up, her eyes widened and the falls didn't exactly see what happened next but he felt a sudden rush of magical energy, almost like he was being electrocuted, out seemed to surge through him like it had a physical strength.

He bent over, gasping for air, he sure hoped that Ekans was okay...

He arrived there before Ekans did. he saw a rather old, perhaps middle aged lady that looked rather stout waddling down the road, her red scarf flapping around her face.

Then there was a flash; a pulsating blue glow that seemed like a mi nature explosion that happened at the end of the street and for one split second, they both saw the scrawny, skinny outline of a child, doubling over, outlined white against the rush of the magic she had caused. The dark lord didn't feel himself start, or finish running. All he knew was that he had somehow got to her side and was kneeling down next to her.

"Are you okay..." He whispered and then nearly slapped himself, she couldn't hear him so what was the point.

"I'm fine." Ekans replied gruffly and he realised that the muggle lady had said the exact same thing. Filthy, bloody creature.

"Do you need help?" The lady actually sounded concerned, he felt even more disgusted.

"Stay. Away. From. Me." Ekans hissed getting to her feet and drawing her little knife.

"Now now, that is not how we citizens of London behave in the year 1988 is it. Now come on, you must be terribly cold." The lady clearly had no idea what an enormous, atomic bomb she had just dropped on Ekans.

"L-london... 1988..." Ekans spluttered, shaking and slipping to the floor, the wand falling out of her grasp. "B-but... I... what?"

"Here," the lady draped her coat around Ekans' shoulders, "You can come with me. I know you're a witch, my sister was a muggle born or whatever it is you call them."

Ekans collapsed fully on the ground; he noted that it was hard with frost, the blade of grass frozen into dark green needles.

Ekans slowly stood up after what seemed an age but, there was a sadness to her eyes. Not even a sadness, a misery. he had outlived her family, she had watched so many people die, so many good, good people who died uncovered, dark bloody deaths. All the people whose names would go unlamented, all those people who would rot in the dark, all those people... And she had been forced to watch it, knowing that she could do absolutely nothing to help them.

The memories all faded away and he resurfaced.

His knuckles standing out against his bloodless whit skin, stretching it painfully but he didn't care; he needed something to hold on to right now. The swirling memories cast strange lights over the room, he sank to the floor, the swirling memories continued to move and writhe in their stone imprisonment.

"Oh...God." The Dark lord felt his chest heave with every breath and then he curled up on the floor, put his head in his hands and rested it on his shoulders. he felt his hands grow wet as he began to cry.

That, was how Ekans found him.


	17. Chapter 15

_"You should go to him, he is your brother after all."_ Magnus whispered, his words quickly being swallowed by the silence. Ekans bit her lip, her hand still closed around the door handle. Galacian, with his superior hearing that had only been made better by his joining with Ekans and the others, had heard something in here. But none of them had expected this...

Ekans looked again, oh god, he was still crying. She had always hated the sound of other's misery, she had seen so much, too much and she carried the acidic tears and sufferings of others everywhere she went. They had become a part of her. And no matter what you do, you can't run away from yourself.

Then her eyes flickered downwards and landed on a metal goblet that was lying on it's side on the floor. It looked empty but she couldn't be sure because it was turned away from her.

She drew back, "Well, I never took him for an alcoholic."

_"Oh my god Ekans,"_ Magnus roared, making Ekans nearly jump out of all her four skins, _"you are so fucking dumb sometimes!"_ He then slank off to sulk in the darkest corner of Ekans' mind that he could find, muttering darkly to himself.

_"What's got into him all of a sudden."_ Galacian whispered to Ekans; even he knew better than to get Magnus against him when he was in a rage.

"I don't know," Ekans muttered, she looked through the crack in the door, "But, if I'm right and he's drunk then there's no harm in going in, right?"

_"Ithinkthatthisisaverybadideaimeanwhatifhekillsusandwealldie-heyareyouevenlisteningtome?!" _Jermiah whined but Ekans just put up a mental barrier against her and her general annoying comments. Jeremiah was probably, although useful, by far even more annoying then Galacian sometimes.

She silently opened the door and slipped inside. She crept up to him, knelt down and whispered in his ear, "You okay?"

"YAAAAAAAAARGH!" The dark lord screeched as he leapt away from where the voice had come from, turning around angrily, he began to yell, "YOU SCARED THE BLOODY BEJESUS OUT OF-Oh, hello Ekans."

He quietened considerably and his red, piercing eyes clouded over slightly.

"Are you okay?" Ekans was perfectly aware of how dumb she sounded.

"Wha-oh yeah, I'm fine." He turned away slightly and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Well...You really don't look like you're fine." Ekans said matter of factly. She sat down and crossed her legs, "Do you want to talk about it."

"Well..." He sat down across from her and leaned against the penesive which Ekans hadn't failed to notice, " I took some of your memories." He said finally.

_"I Thought it seemed a bit empty in your head today."_ Galacian admitted.

_"Really, I thought that was just you being quiet."_ Galacian glared in the mouse's direction and she cowered back. Galacian didn't take comments like this very well...

"How honest of you. Please do continue." Ekans completely ignored everything the two animals said.

"And I saw them." He continued, staring dully at the opposite wall, his chin resting on his knees.

"How interesting. I should write this all down."

"And-"

"Wait a minute; am I really that creepy?" Ekans sounded generally surprised to hear this. She had always know that her life was way above normal but still, this was a Dark Lord, if she creeped him out the she should probably do something about it. Like, oh I don't know, steal someone's passport and move to Columbia.

"No, it's not that. You see, I think I'm depressed."

"You, depressed?"

"Yes."

"What, really?"

"Yes."

"You mean seriously?"

He sighed and then continued, perhaps a little angrier than before, "Yes."

"Is it possible for those particular words to be arranged in that particular order to make that particular sentence?" Ekans pondered aloud.

"You said the word particular far too many times in that sentence and yes, it is."

"Well..." Ekans racked her brain, depression wasn't something she'd never had to face before. Surviving, yes, Hunger, yes but never depression. It was hard to find the time and energy to be depressed when you were nearly dying and everyone else was long gone. "Is there anything I can do to, you know, make you feel better?" She offered.

He thought about this for a minute. "Would you like your memories back?"

"Yes please." That did sound appealing. Besides, she wanted to know what had set this off.

He stood up and slowly drew out the penesives swirling contents and offered them to her. She noted this gesture and decided to think about it in more detail later. She placed the wand tip at the roots of her thick black hair and felt the memories pour themselves inside.

Hmmm...

That explained a lot...

She turned towards him, "Anything else I can do. I mean, I must be a really weird person to be able to make a Dark Lord fall into depression."

His eyes narrowed, "How do you know know I'm a Dark Lord."

"Woman's intuition."

"Well what has your 'woman's intuition'" He made the quote marks with his unnaturally long fingers, "been saying about me."

"Well...I know that you were killed while attempting to murder the Potter boy, trust me that was a good idea, wish I could've been there to watch them die. And that you were 'brought back to life' about... lets say 4 years ago."

"And how do you know all this? Have you been investigating me?"

"Maybe..."

"How?"

"Well... First I broke into the house of this wizarding family called the Malfoys, then I broke into the Ministry of magic..."

"You broke into the Ministry?" He sounded rather impressed, clearly he hadn't done that when he was her age.

"Yes, I used the toilet whirlpool thing and turned into a mouse as soon as I got out."

"Wha?" This had clearly not been around when he was growing up.

"You have to flush yourself down the toilet to get to the Ministry these days."

"They use toilets now! Oh, I'm sure that's just _so_ mature... Also, why are you telling me all this?"

"Well, just in case you haven't noticed, wizard boy, you saw my memories."

"How very observant of you and I have a name you know." He sounded surprisingly at ease.

_"Hah! Know your place bitch." _Galacian bellowed, as usual lacking the ability to generate enough willpower to stop himself from shrieking his point of view every few minutes.

Ekans ignored him, again.

"My name, is Tom."

_"Your name is Thomas? Now that is some dumb arse name." _Galacian declared, whisking his tail from side to side.

"Your name is Thomas?" Ekans asked. She pressed her lips together to stop herself from laughing. It wasn't that it was a stupid name or anything but it just didn't suit him at all.

_"I just said that_." Galacian commented smugly.

"No. Just Tom, I'm named after my father." A note of hatred crept into his voice at the mention of his father.

"You really are a Gaunt aren't you." Ekans marvelled.

"What?"

"Dad troubles, same here."

"I hated him, I killed him you know." He announced this proudly. Then again, Ekans wasn't surprised, he was her brother after all.

"Yeah right, all I know about my father is that my mother was immensely disappointed to discover that I was born without platinum blonde hair and sparking blue eyes."

"I looked a lot like my father..." He said distantly. His red eyes misting over again.

"I didn't, in fact, my mother always told me that when I was born, she first thought that she'd just taken a massive shit." Ekans announced, it seemed like a good thing to say, though she had always wondered about whether or not her mother understood how degrading it was to say that you can't tell the difference between a piece of shit and a live child.

"Well that's nice." He commented sarcastically. He glanced at a clock and stood up, "You should probably get some sleep. I't getting late."

He offered her his hand and she took it. She could stand up perfectly fine by herself, in fact, she could balance on every finger without breaking it but still, there was something that seemed right about the gesture.

"Well, good night I guess." He mumbled before walking out. Ekans noted that his height caused him to duck slightly in order to walk through the door.

_"Just walk off why don't you! Fucking twat, leave us abandon us why don't you-" _

_"Galacian,"_ Magnus chilled, his calm manner quickly returning, _"You never change do you." _

"Eh? I was supposed to change in 5 minutes! What am I? Some sort of-"

Magnus sighed, "Never mind... Anyway, he's right, you should get some sleep."

**I know that this chapter was a bit of a shoprty but this is a crucial turning point! Olay, I sound like a horrible english teacher now don't I. Regardless, please follow, favourite and review! **


	18. Chapter 16-Hogwart's letter

Chapter 18-Hogwarts Letter

"Ekans." The Dark Lord stood next to her 'bed' (she still slept on the pile of robes) and gently shook her awake.

"What is it?" She sat up and pushed the 'covers' down. She had been trained to wake up quickly and early, years with Galacian waking her up with his yelling had only helped develop this.

He put his hands behind his back, "Do you remember what very special day it is today?"

Ekans thought about this for a moment. "Is it your birthday?"

"No, but close."

She thought again. What was normally a big thing that she remembered...

"Has somebody died?"

"No! Today's your birthday! The anniversary of your coming into the world." He then added, "Also don't mean to alarm you but there's about 50 owls sitting on the roof with letters addressed to you."

"Wha..." She stood up fully now, "Also, how did the owls get through I mean, I thought you put spells up?"

"Oh, I did," He said smugly, "I killed all the owls and the corpses are now drying out in the sun as I speak."

He looked down at Ekans, who was looking at him like he was bananas, "A dead owl is a very useful thing to have in today's society."

"O-K-A-Y... Then why didn't Gal wake me up?" This was something strange, he seemed really quiet today. It was strangely unnerving.

"I sorta drugged him...if you know what I mean."

_"I TOLD YOU!" _Galacian roared, crashing through the mental barrier that Ekans always built to keep him quiet, _"THIS GUY'S NOT A DARK LORD! HE'S A MOTHER FUCKING DRUG LORD."_

Ekans decided to do what she normally did and ignore him.

"Well that failed. Anyway, what are these owls of yours doing here anyway?" Ekans asked, allready setting of through the house to the stairs that led to the attic which in turn led to the roof.

"I believe they had Hogwarts letters." He said absently, walking beside her through his house.

"Two years fucking late." Ekans muttered and as usual, her brother pretended not to hear the rather rude word that she had just said.

"You're thirteen?" He was actually quite surprised to hear this, he had always know that Ekans was at least one year older than the usual Hogwart's first year student but still...two years late? That was just depressing not to mention insulting.

"Okay here we ar-damn that's a lot of owls..." Ekans commented as she climbed through the hatch that led to the roof. The roof was literally littered with owl corpses; standing out against the grey slate tiles like splodges of brown, black and grey. Near the hatch, there was a pile of letters that she guessed were what the owls had been carrying.

"Okay...Let's see what we've got here." She picked up the nearest letter that seemed to have somehow fallen off the top of the pile and looked at it; there was the hogwarts seal holding the envelope together and there, on the back was her name. To Ekans.

"Wow, they don't even know your full name." Her brother commented sarcastically. He didn't really think very highly of the people that were currently running Hogwarts.

Ignoring him, she unceremoniously ripped open the envelope, unfolded the parchment and began to read. This was what the letter read;

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry

Ekans

Precise Location unknown

Dear Ekans,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will find enclosed a letter of books and other such necessary equipment that shall be needed. Term begins on September 1st. We await a reply by no later than by July 1st.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Minerva Mcgonagall.

Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"WHAT THE BLOODY FUC-sorry, I mean fudge, they made her the Deputy Headmistress! They made a bloody murderer the bloody deputy!" Voldemort fumed, he had always know that Minerva Mcgonagall had been made charms teacher at Hogwarts but the bloody deputy. Flipping hell, that must've been a blow for Severus.

Ekans closed her eyes and mumbled the words that she had been taught, the words that kept her under control and the words that would bring about the defeat of these people. The words, that were her keys to revenge; "The snake is calm and does not strike out irrationally, it waits in the shadows and observes it's prey looking for an opportunity to strike."

Still speaking, she climbed down the ladder that led to the roof and disappeared down below.

"Hey! Just where do you think you're going?!" Voldemort yelled after her, who knew what someone that could turn into a dragon and rather psychotic wolf would do in this sort of situation.

"Stealing." Came the faint reply.

He sighed and looked down at his snake which seemed to have wrapped itself around his leg again, "Bloody Hell. I'd better go. This could get ugly."

His snake nodded in silent agreement and slithered onto his shoulders.

"I told you that this was a bad idea." Her brother pointed out as she went over the list again.

"Let's see, I already got most of the uniform..."

"And I'm sure that turned out perfectly well..." Voldemort muttered, looking down at the scrambling figures that were running around, swearing and wondering aloud about why their stores had suddenly exploded and why most of their stock were now missing.

"Oh shut up, anyway, no way in hell am I getting dragon hide gloves-"

"_Dragon hide gloves! Dis speakable! You know you humans used to worship dragons! And now look! You butcher my species and sell them as GLOVES! GLOVES! I swear to the 6 pointed star I will find whoever's clever idea that was and fry them up!"_ Magus raged. His annoyance at this particular item very clear indeed.

_"That sounds like something I would say. Fry them up, you're not trying to replace me are you?!"_ Galacian threatened, the two animals starting yet another argument, all of which Ekans had to mentally witness but she had grown used to this sort of thing so she just tuned out and focused on each word of the list.

Then, they got even louder...

"Shut the fuck up both of you!" Ekans suddenly yelled angrily. Causing her brother to get the feeling that he got a lot around Ekans, the feeling that had he been a cartoon, he would have neatly jumped out of his skin and left it to crumple in a pile on the floor.

"Should I take you to therapy for talking to yourself or are the animals pissing you off again?" The Dark Lord asked as soon as he was certain that no permanent mental damage had been done to him.

Completely ignoring him, Ekans continued; "I guess we'll just have to steal the books and steal everything else that I don't already have." She trailed off. Thinking about how she should do this.

"Just please, please don't blow half of the street up gain." Her brother begged her as she rummaged through the satchel that she'd brought which the dark lord suspected held rather a lot of explosive potions and other shit that he didn't want to touch.

"Okay okay, I won't do that again besides, it'll look suspicious, I need to do something else..." Her voice trailed off as she thought.

"Well... You could always nick somebody else's." Her brother suggested, "That's what I used to do."

Ekans thought about this, "I guess that would work."

She peeked out of the alley that she had dashed into after successfully shoplifting all the robes and other clothes that she needed using her NON-harmful Crepitus potion to blow up a 'couple' of things. She scanned the crowds of smiling faces that were joking and laughing, every smile a stab of proof that she didn't belong here. Especially after all the other times that she had been here, begging for money from the ancestors of the people here today after the death of her siblings.

She blinked, enough with the depressing thoughts, she had a job to do. She continued to scan the faces, looking for someone that would step close enough...

"Then our little Carlo got sorted into Hufflepuff! Just like his mother and father! We're so proud of him-"

Ekans grinned to herself. Hufflepuff's were known for their famous and often unnecessary kindness towards others, even people that didn't deserve it. She could use that to her advantage...

"They're Hufflepuff's, you can use that." Her brother whispered beside her, saying her thoughts aloud.

"I know." She then cleared her voice and whimpered in the most whiney, helpless way that she could, the two words that would hopefully lure them towards her, out of the sight and safety of the main wizarding body; "Help... Me..."

"Almara," The voice of the male Hufflepuff said, "Did you hear something?"

"Yes I did." The voice of the female Hufflepuff said. Already full of concern, it was working.

"Come on, we'll see what's going on." The sound of approaching footsteps entered the alley, coming closer.

Ekans walked backwards, leading them further into the alley, letting out a whimper every now and then.

_"Just a little closer..." _Magnus whispered.

By now they were out of sight of any immediate passers by, the black of their cloaks and hats only working in Ekans' favour.

By now it was time, they weren't suspicious yet and they were already accustomed enough to the darkness and not used enough to how things worked here in the alleys to let their guard down. Perfect...

Ekans darted forwards, grabbed the cauldron full of things and ran. The man tried to make a move to stop her but a kick in a certain body part stopped him in his tracks. Ekans ran off, pulling down the thin scarf that she had hastily put on had one of them used a lumos.

"You're evil you do know that." Her brother said when they had both stopped running.

"And that is very offensive coming from you I'm sure." Ekans commented but not really meaning it. She had got what she wanted and needed so she should probably go. "Okay I have everything, is there anything that I should know."

Ekans had a feeling, a feeling, that this would be a big turning point in her life, there were many things to grasp for and even more things to steer away from; the sorting, other houses, people...

"There are a few things but..." She felt his dillusioned hand clasp her shoulder, "I think we should go home first."

He then apparated away from the alley that they were both standing in and brought them home.

Ekans had apparated with other people; her brother, gang members, on one special occasion, even her mother. But still, none of them quite did it like her brother, the Dark Lord could. He did it silently and subtly, you didn't even notice it until it was over. There was no swirling round in circles, no uncomfortable feeling of being submerged in could, murky water. She had to admit, he was a powerful wizard. But she had the feeling that no one, not even him, realised the full strength of his powers.

They stood in one of the rooms of the Riddle manor. Ekans didn't think that she'd ever been there before; it was a dark room with a low ceiling that had looked like at one point it had been painted a pale lilac colour but now most of the paint had peeled off and the rest of it looked like it had either been burned away by intense fire spells or someone had been trying to burn their way out.

The walls had the same tarnished look to them, though the walls looked like they had at one point been painted a darker shade of lilac. There were four windows; Two on the wall on the left side of Ekans and two more on the right, each one with thick velvet curtains that looked like they had holes burned into them, the only source of light. The door was in front of her. It's silver handle shining despite it's layer of dust.

"No just in case you're wondering where we are," Her brother concede, taking his hand of her shoulder and dissolving the spell he had placed over himself, "We're in what was the bedroom of one of my father's family members."

Ekans noted how he didn't refer to them as any relation of his.

She set down the things and walked over to stand beside him.

With a wave of his wand that she hadn't seen him draw, he conjured up two chairs and sat down in one of them. He gestured for Ekans to do the same.

Ekans took a seat and waited for him to continue.

"Ek," He began, "There are a few things that I fell you should know... First, The Potter boy, who was my target when I attacked and killed his parents, probably started Hogwarts last year because that was the year that he turned eleven. Now, what we know about his parents... well... Do I need to say it out loud?"

He didn't, "Stay away from him then when it won't look suspicious and nobody will be able to draw the line back to me, kill him."

Her brother nodded, he didn't like the way that this was going but Ekans had a score to settle with he Potters. Besides, she was only one unsuspecting person, if she killed him then nobody would be suspicious of her and she would do a good job. Still, it felt like he was using her.

"Yeah, also, this is something that I think may also help the two f us." He leaned back in his chair and looked at the half burned ceiling, "I think that we haven't seen the last of the Potters or the Marauders. And I have a horrible feeling that Dumbledore has something to do with it.

"Also, Dumbledore knows you, though I can guess that he's changed quite a bit since what he did. But if I'm right and all then trying to hide your identity will be pointless. Also, Dumbledore isn't stupid, he'll put two and two together and try to protect himself. For now we'll just have to rely on the fact that he doesn't know we're on the same side and that he doesn't know that you want to kill way more people than just him.

"Now lastly, this is something that's been worrying me." He closed his eyes, "I believe that Dumbledore and all the others that killed people in front of you weren't working alone, I believe that there's some sort of organisation pulling their strings."

"You think that's possible?" Ekans asked, this had never occurred to her. Well, she had thought about gangs and so forth but not an organisation. They hadn't seemed...controlled enough to be tasking orders from someone else.

"It's just an idea, but I have a way to confirm it; Minerva McGonagall said that all Slytheins deserved to die and if all of their victims end out to be in Slytherin or come from Slytherin families, then they're all working together and probably under someone else."

Ekans thought about this. What her brother was saying made sense, if this was the case though, then they were all in big trouble.

"But if it is a society or organisation then we're going to need more support and evidence." Ekans concluded. She'd seen what these people could do with a knife. If they came for them with wands...

"That's what I was thinking. I mean, we do have the Death Eaters but then again, all they know is that I've been dead for about 12 years. I doubted most of them to begin with so, this could be a good way to see who's loyal and who we can trust."

This made sense, if he was right and they were facing an organisation then having numbers on their side would only help. Besides, anything that got her one step closer to getting the revenge that she had been chasing after for years. Was good in her eyes.

"That makes sense. So basically I have to go to Hogwarts, kill Harry Potter-"

"That won't be necessary, we need to find out more about him, because, you see," He shifted uncomfortably, "I did hit him with a killing curse. But all that happened to him was getting a little scar on his forehead whilst I...well..."

Ekans nodded. It felt good to know that she was doing something, to know that she could do something about what she'd seen and knew. It felt good to have a plan.

"No killing little boys, understood."

He smiled, still staring at the ceiling and the scorch marks that he'd made. "Yeah. Also, the Malfoy boy, Draco and the Parkinson girl, Pansy, are going to be starting their second year as well. You might find that interesting."

_"That's just lovely! Shove all the work of onto your little sister why don't you! Lazy bit-"_

"Galacian wants to know what you'll be doing." Ekans said, hoping to shut him up before his rant reached a point where it was impossible to stop him.

"Well, I was just getting to that."

_"Oh Sure you were!" _

"Now hopefully, Dumbledore or the boy," Ekans guessed that he meant Harry Potter, "Will be worrying about Harry's education and why the Hell someone that's been dead for almost fifty years has come to get an education. Now this means that I'll be looking into the more dangerous of my death eaters and if we find people we can trust then I guess a few Azkaban breakouts may be in order. Other than that, I'll be killing off any members of the Order of the Pheonix-"

_"Order of the what!"_Galacian yelled.

"-and try to find out who the people that were so very nicely murdered in front of you were. Now if they're all in Slytherin, then our suspicions will be confirmed."

"Right. That should shut that dumb wolf up." Ekans muttered under her breath, leaning back and bracing herself for what she knew Gal was going to say.

_"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY ABOUT ME! YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE SMARTER THAN ME JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE A HUMAN! YOU FUCKING RACIST!" _

"Done yet?" She asked him mentally.

The Dark Lord watched this mental dispute go on in front of him. He had often wondered how Ekans could remain sane with so many people living on in her mind. Gotta be pretty frustrating.

Still, they were doing something and if this worked out then Ekans would get her revenge. All he wanted was to be there when she got it.

**End of this chappy. Now don't know if you've noticed, but right now I've been focusing on this fanfic so all the people that prefer my other, Soul Eater fanfic (Some Souls Aren't Worth Eating) then I'll be focusing on that story at some time in the future but that doesn't mean that I won't update it and this! **


	19. Explanatory Chapter

****Explanatory chapter****

****As you can guess, this is a chapter where I explain a couple of things that people seem to be confused about. If there are any topics that I haven't touched on in this, then it's either no-ones mentioned it or it's a part of the story that no one knows about yet. So, basically, if there's anything that you don't get about my story/stories, then please do send me a PM or review about it.****

****1\. Ekans' age:****

****Ekans is thirteen. In the original idea for the story she was eleven but I changed it. This isn't something that's said in the summary though when I first wrote the summary I did include that but ran out of space. She was murdered when she was seven and because she had unfinished business she became a ghost. As you know, ghosts can't age so when she was resurrected she was still seven years old, she stayed with a muggle lady called Prim for six years and originally attended a primary school but was then moved on to home education because, well, imagine Galacian at school. Not appealing, is it.****

****2\. Ekans' resurrection:****

****Ekans' resurrection is something that will become important due to the plot so I'll try not to talk to much about it. Ekans was resurrected by the wand, that's all I can say for now.****

****3\. Jeremiah:****

****How Ekans gets Jeremiah isn't mentioned in the story because I had already gone completely overboard with the memories but Ekans' family had a mouse/rat problem (obviously) and Ekans' accidentally joined Jeremiah's soul to her's because she was in contact with her heart when she died.****

****4\. Fenir:****

****I don't know if anyone is wondering about what happens to him, but he will become an extremely important character in future chapters. Also, some of his past life (I don't know if this is actually true or not, seeing as J.K never wrote much about the death eaters) will be revealed.****

****5\. Harry Potter:****

****Harry is going to be in his second year at Hogwarts and, beacuse Voldemort was smart and never did that back-on-head thing (I mean imagine if Quirell took a shower, so what, the Dark Lord has to watch him take a shower? And what about if Quirell rolls over in his sleep and what if he has sex or something like that? Also, imagine how uncomfortable and smelly it's got to be under that turbin, I man, for Christ's sake, this is the Dark Lord, Lord of all fucking Darkness! Can we have something a bit more mature and well planned out) so Harry had a pretty much uneventful first year at Hogwarts. All that Dobby stuff at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets does happen but because I absolutely hate Harry as a character and human being, I'm not going to write about it.****

****6\. Severus Snape:****

****I don't know if the whole abuse thing is true or not but it makes sense and it doesn't seem to me like something that has no chance what so ever of happening, it's a real life issue that some people have to deal with on a regular basis. Also yes, more of his childhood and that of other death eaters will be revealed.****

****7\. The Order of the Phoenix:****

****I know that the Order are all supposed to be whopping heroes but there will be a LOT of Order bashing in this story and when I say a LOT, I mean a LOT.****

****8\. Harry's bond:****

****Yes, sad as I am to say it, the bond between Harry and Lord V does still exist but it isn't as strong or relevant, you'll see why.****

****9\. Death Eaters****

****I know that I haven't made many death eater references or touched on them much but they will all be very important characters in future chapters and I hope I do them the justice they deserve.****

****That's pretty much it I think. Anyway, please do follow, favourite and review for anything you thing I can add or improve.****


	20. Chapter 17

**Chapter 19-Hogwarts and some other shit.**

"Okay, this is as far as I can go without anyone noticing me," Ekans' brother whispered as they crouched down in the old, abandoned sewer drainpipe that was the only other way to get to platform nine and 3/4.

"That reminds me," Ekans turned to him, "how do you know about ask this?"

"Well..." He smiled smugly, "you know what they say, you pick up more than dust on the road."

"Ha Ha. That only works if you're a traveller. Anyway, you said you had some rules for me? Other than the whole getting revenge thing."

"Indeed I did say that you have restrictions," He nudged his snake's head with his hand, who appeared to have fallen asleep while lounging her head on his bony shoulder, "First off, we-or rather I- don't want you getting hurt in any permanent or temporary way so when you get to Hogwarts: Don't get pregnant, don't come home high, don't do drugs-"

"Aren't coming home high and doing drugs the same thing?" Ekans asked, looking up through the cracks in the flagstone pavement of the platform to slowly see them filling up as more and more people arrived. People that she would go to school with, people she may have to kill.

"Technically speaking, no. If you come home high it means you have recently been taking drugs but if you come home on drugs then it means you're an addict. Anyway, don't die, don't kill anyone (yet) and if anything happens at Hogwarts that could lead to you dying or getting hurt," he put his hand under her chin, forcing her to look at him, "Then you come home right away, I don't care what it is, what's going on, you get t safety and let that shit sort itself out."

Ekans looked up nto his fiery red eyes, there was something different about them, something she couldn't quite put her finger on...

__"Yeah. Yeah." __Galacian slurred, __"We're all happy brother and sister. Yay. Now can we please get back to what we're supposed to be doing!" __

__Ekans rolled her eyes, "Gal needs a repeat. Again."

"Again? Flipping Hell and he calls you a dumb fuck!"

__"Oy! I heard that!"__

"Well, what you need to do is try to get close to the children of some of the death eaters, through them we'll see what we can do. I think you'll be good at this because you got on pretty well with Fenir."

"Yeah," Ekans thought about the real reason that Fenir was so loyal to her brother, "He's loyal to you no matter what."

"Eh?" Ekans hadn't talked about his loyalty like this before, "How can you be so sure?"

"I just am. I mean, he owes you; you saved his life and gave him something to live for."

"I-I don't remember doing that." He said tensely, he didn't like talking about helping people, probably a trait left over from when he was growing up; a time where kindness symbolised weakness.

"Don't you remember? He told me about it; It happened shortly after he was bitten, it was the full moon and he wasn't aware of his powers or what they could do to him and the people around him. He changed and when he woke up, all he felt was pain and all that he knew was that people wearing white coats were experimenting on him, cutting hi open to find out why it happened, how he worked. But of course; it's magic, they couldn't find an answer for their question so they just dug deeper.

"There were others there too, most of them died in there. In front of him. He's like me in that way. The reason he's so loyal is that, you found him on one of your raids, you might not have been aware of it at the time but you showed him that he wasn't the monster tat he had forced himself to believe he was, that he wasn't alone and you gave him a future. He's never forgotten that."

They were both silent for a moment. Then the Dark Lord put his arms around his sister; "I'm going to miss you, Ek."

"Me too."

They hugged each other for a while. It would've looked funny to an outsider to see that; the Dark Lord himself putting so much care and dependence on the shoulders of one mere child.

But it was much more than that.

"You should probably go, the train will be here soon." They broke apart, said their final goodbyes and parted their different ways.

Ekans first term at Hogwarts would soon begin.

****I know that this is a very short chapter but exams and tests are coming up as it is nearing the end of term so I will try and update both of my stories but the updates will probably be much shorter but I will try and pack as much as I can into them. Also, next one will have more 'doing' in it and new characters will be introduced soon. ****


	21. Chapter 18

Chapter 20-trains and dipshits

Ekans climbed out of the sewer and pressed her back against the nearest wall to hide herself from the bustling mass of parents, siblings, students to be and family members that were joking and exchanging goodbyes and stories about Hogwarts. A crowd that she would never belong to.

_"Stop feeling soory for yourself and get to fucking work." _Galacian ranted.

"Okay okay, I'm going," Ekans muttered, making today one of the few days that she actually replied to one of Glacian's comments.

Ekans felt her closed eyelids glow as she transformed into Jeremiah, the familiar feeling of her bones and skin melting like butter and then moulding into place oddly comforting. She slipped down a pipe and crept along the edge of the platform, making sure to avoid people's feet and hoping that nobody would fin-

"A MOISE! A RAT!" Ekans glanced up to see a girl about a year younger than her leaping about like she'd been electrified, her robes flapping as she leapt onto the nearest clingable thing near her which just so happened to be a tall, slender looking boy with combed back bleach blonde hair that was almost white and steely grey eyes. "DID YOU JUST SEE IT THEN DRACO DARLING! IT WAS A MOUSE!"

The girl continued to squeal and yell. Apparently oblivious to the strangulation she was causing.

"Pansy, Pansy calm down, what mouse?" He asked her, taking hold of her wrists and looking into her eyes. Judging by the rather noticeable crimson splodge spreading across the girls face, this sort of close contact didn't happen often.

Ekans didn't hang about, she instantly urged Jeremiah to move those fat little mouse lags of hers though of course she didn't need telling twice.

As she ran, she noticed a group of three Hogwarts students, still in muggle clothing, pointing and laughing at the pair; a boy with messy black hair, green eyes which were mostly covered by his large, round and thick framed glasses, a boy with embarrassingly thick and messy ginger hair and a face that looked like someone had tied him to a chair and spent hours flicking orange paint at his face and a girl with thick frizzy brown hair, large, brown doe eyes and rather large front teeth.

Ekans disliked them all immediately. And not because one of them was called Harry Potter, though that did have something to do with it.

Ekans ran through the mix of people on the platform and began to realise as people nearly stepped on her head, ran away screaming and nearly sliced her in half with the wheels of their trolleys all while owls everywhere were eyeing her hungrily, that maybe, just maybe, this was a teeny tiny bit of a bad idea.

_"We just need to hold on until the train comes, then we'll slip on and hide somewhere in a place that we can spy on people. Am I right?_" Galacian chatted while Ekans dodged a rather psychotic child's attempt to grab her.

"So nice to see you've caught up." Ekans muttered, looking in the direction that the train was going to come from.

"Got You!" A gleeful shout came from behind her and before Ekans' mind and the other three that lived inside her's had a time to register what was going on, a glass jar that by the smell of things seemed to have at one point contained pickles.

"You caught it Draco," The same girl from before cooed as Ekans' spirits sank, to be caught by a perfectly sane person was one thing, but to be caught by these two...Her brother would laugh his bald head off if he ever heard about this, "Oh how gallant of you."

"Gallant? Has she been eating squirrel shit, cos clearly she's nuts!" Galacian then laughed very loudly at his own joke.

"It's nothing," Whitey hair offered her the jar, "Do you want it?"

"No way! I have a phobia of mice and rats, I had a bad experience with one once."

_"Guess what, nobody cares!" _Galacian cried. Ekans groaned and mentally put her head in her hands.

"Umm... er...okay. I guess we'll have to take it on the train..."

Ekans instantly zoned out of their conversation and started pacing around the allocated space that she had been given.

This was gonna be a hard one to get out of...

**I know that this too, is rather small and not very informative but exam time is coming up and I really want to get a big wedge done by the Christmas holidays. Also, what do you think so far of Pansy and Draco? **


	22. Chapter 19

Chapter 21

"You know," Pansy said, her brown eyes narrowed as she glared at Ekans who was glaring back at her, "there's something very odd about this mouse..."

"Hmmm..." Two fat boys, who Ekans believed were named Crabbe and Goyle, looked up from the sweets that they had bullied some people into giving them. Pigs.

"I don't know, it does look weird..." Draco said absent mindedly, still gazing out of the window at the landscapes that were rushing by, "do you reckon it's an animangus?"

"It could be. Wait, if it is then they would've transformed back by now-" Ekans was pleased to see that this girl had at least more than one brain cell in her head that actually worked.

She was cut off by a group of three laughing students pushing open the door to their compartment; Potter and his friends.

"Oh, you're already here." Harry said, his green eyes glaring directly at Draco. Draco met his glare with one of his own. Ekans looked from boy to boy and chuckled. How very interesting... Pansy noticed this and frowned to herself after shooting a venomous glance in Hermione's direction.

"Nice to see your girlfriend got over her little mouse attack."

Pansy didn't even bat an eyelash. Eklans was impressed, maybe she wasn't so bad after all, most people would've made a big fuss out of a comment like that.

Harry and Ron snickered and walked out. Not bothering to shut the door.

"Stupid potter and his stupid friends..." Draco muttered, slamming the door so hard that the glass in the windows of the door smashed.

"He's only jealous, after all, you're SO much better than him." Pansy cooed. Completely ignoring the rather failed efforts of fat boys to fix the glass using a repairo charm.

Draco sharply in took some air, "you're right, I shouldn't worry about i-" he cut himself of and jumped out of his seat, causing one of the fat boys to stutter just as he was beginning to fix the window, "I have plan that'll give us a laugh."

"What." The fat boy that had nearly fixed the window said glumly, resuming his doomed efforts.

"How about we use the mouse on them."

Pansy clapped her hands together once, "what a wonderful idea! Of course, I'm not surprised." She then batted her eyelashes at him. Poor desperate girl...

Ekans groaned, Galacian did pretty much the same thing only with many more colourful words.

Pansy picked up the jar and followed Draco out of the compartment.

_"_I thought you had a phobia of mice,"__ galacian retorted,__"make your fucking mind up!"__

They tiptoed past all the other compartments; not doing until they reached the one where potter and his friends were joking and exchanging stories.

Then, Draco gestured for Pansy ti hand him the jar, he aimed, and, threw it through the compartment window.

"Oh I'm sure that's just oh so mature!" Galacian commentated as they landed on the floor, smashing the glass and started running around to avoid being caught.

"Get it!" Hermione screeched, dancing around, but Ekans had already smashed her way through the window and was now running as fast as she could down the corridor, looking for a place that she could safely transform without anyone seeing her.

"Well, that was rather boring." Galacian chatted as Ekans stepped out of the toilet and proceeded to smash open the nearest window and climb out onto the roof. She then day fief on the metal roof that had been earned by the light sunshine and decided there and then to have a good sulk until the train arrived.

With great billowing clouds of steam, the train pulled in at the station. Children poured out, seeking either a tall (actually, more than tall) bearded man who held a lantern or the small, worn out path that had been made by generations of hobnailed boots, leading to the carriages.

Severus watched all this with no emotion; for some this would be their first year, for others their last and for some their second or third but for him, it was just another collection of him wasting 9 hours, five days a week for three terms staring at their pug ugly faces. In other words, just another year for him to slog through.

Ekans slipped down from her perch on the roof and nearly landed on the giant of a man. She wasn't sorry either. She was having a rather bad day today.

"Careful over 'ere," He boomed waving his lantern about so it nearly hit Ekans in the face, "Now is yer a firs' year? I ain't see yer before- Oh, 'ello 'arry, 'ello 'ermionee, 'ello Ron-"

Ekans, flicking her cloak over her shoulder in annoyance, decided not to participate in the conversation (let alone listen to it.) She had a rather hard little journey ahead of her, seeing as she had no intention of taking a carriage or a boat. Hygiene if you know what I mean, who knows what's been sitting there before you?

Ekans walked up the path to the carriages, letting her feet guide her past the roots and foot falls pf the path. Up ahead, she could see the outline of the castle and see the lights shining from the windows, like yellow slits, see the millions of lanterns that were tied to the boats, creaking and rocking from side to side with the motion of the water. It all looked too...perfect. The sort of perfect, she thought to herself, that is made to be pulled over your eyes like shutters, to stop you from noticing the horrors that have happened.

__"Are you just going to stand there, or are we going to get to that piece of shit over there and smash it?!"__Galacian_ yelled. _

__"Well well well..."__ Magnus chimed, amusment sparkilmg in his voice, __"You seem unusually excited to go to school." __

____"Shut Up!"__

__Ekans rolled her eyes and smiled to herself; it felt good to know that she wasn't going to face this alone.


	23. Chapter 20

Chapter 22

****This is a very short flashback chapter and the next one will be another Ekans one and will be pretty long (I hope) also, let me know if you think there's any way I can improve. ****

7 years ago

Thunder flashed across the sky, cutting a line of glowing white across the blotchy grey sky. The light of the flash had briefly illuminated her arm and showed her what, even in the dark, when she couldn't see it she stared at; her dark mark.

Even on the blackest nights, she could still feel out it's outline and trace it with her fingertip. Her dark mark. The one thing that marked her devotion to her lord, branded into her flesh forever. She scoffed, far different from the flimsy ring that apparently made all the things that her husband used to do to her 'okay'. But he wouldn't dare do that to her now. She was stronger, far stronger than him, far stronger than anyone that she had once been afraid of. Except her lord... But then again, that was different.

She wore this mark on her flesh and blood, it would never fade away, it stood out against her pale skin just like her flawless devotion always had against the doubtful loyalties of the others.

She brought it to her lips and kissed it gently.

Sooner or later, maybe tomorrow, maybe in 15 years but someday, she knew that all her years of rotting away in Azkaban would be rewarded. She hadn't given up her freedom for the sake of it.

She didn't know why, and her husband could clearly not feel this but she had felt a strange sort of energy building up inside it, almost looks a clot of her strength, a sort of reserve, a resource for someone to use when the time was right.

And she knew perfectly well who that 'someone' was.

She stared at it. She smiled, her lord was getting stronger, he was going, to come back.

And she would be ready when he did.


	24. Chapter 21

Chapter 23

"So this," Ekans arched back her neck and stretched, looking up at the castle; outlined against the smoke like sky by the orange lights that were seeping through the windows of the great hall. It's many towers and spires towering over her. "Is Hogwarts."

She felt some sort of lump rise inside her. This was the school that she and Marv had directed their whole lives slaving away for; stealing, killing, cheating money out of people. All so that Sully could come here and make something out of her life. But she wasn't here. And she never would be.

Ekans looked up again.

She remembered how her brother, Tom, had taught her about the stars but she didn't remember their namse nor did she care. They didn't care about her so why should she give a fuck about them? Instead, she had chosen three stars, just the night before, all in a line, to represent each family member that she loved; Tom, Sully and Marv.

"What, may I ask," Ekans heard a rather sneery voice that had an almost 'greasy' edge to it, "is a little first year doing over here?"

Ekans slowly raised her head. A man with rather longish, about shoulder length greasy black hair, coal black, tunnel like eyes and a hooked nose as well as unhealthy looking pale skin was looking down at her from an open window and smiling in a very unpleasant, crooked way. Ekans knew they she was going to have to tread carefully with this one.

Not only had he been a death eater that had been curiously accepted into the wizarding society and even given a job under Dumbledore's roof but he had been curiously opposed to the murder of the Potters . Makes you wonder.

"Now whether or not I'm a first year," Ekans began, putting her hands behind her back and letting the inner Slytherin do the talking, "is a rather complicated matter."

The corner of his mouth twitched. "If that is the case then would you care to explain why, unlike all the other sane students of this school, you have refused to go on the carriages or take a boat?"

Ekans looked up at him coolly.

"I walked. It's a good leg exercise. It helps the immune system, it helps with the internal workings of your body and builds up the middle in your legs." Not that I need any of that... Ekans added under her breath.

"I an familiar with what a walk is," he said impatiently, "what year at you in and which house are you in?"

__"Well well..."__ Galacian muttered slyly, __"not even out first day and already misbehaving are we?"__

"I'm one of the second years and I haven't been sorted yet actually." Ekans said mildly.

"That would mean," he said this as if he was explaining this to a particularly stupid animal, "that you are a first year."

"No, actually," two could play at this game, "this is my first year but I'm going to be joining the second year."

"How very believable... Care to elaborate?"

"The school sent me my letter two years late."

He scoffed. "This school hadn't mistaken a letter or delivered one so much as a day late in over 200 years!"

"Well I'm afraid they're going to have to change that nice long record of theirs to 'the last time we messed up delivering a letter was 2 months, one week and five days ago. About midday.' So yeah, Reality check time."

He looked down at her sharply and his hair jumped a little with the sharp movement of his head.

"Whatever house you get sorted into, 50 house points will be taken off." He said this menacingly., as if she cared. She could almost her the house points rattling feebly in their hour glass containers.

"And what if I'm in Slytherin?" Ekasn said conversationally. She'd heard that he was the house keeper of house Slytherin and that he favourited them greatly. Very curious that Dumbledore should let him have such a long, flexible leash.

"Well... then 40 points off." He said rather uncomfortably.

"I'm loving the lack of favouritism here." Ekans said sarcastically.

"_Good thing you hadn't done an imperius in a while or else he'd be explaining things to her in greater detail than he can imagine."_ Magnus' voice snaked inside her head. Reminding her about who this person was.

His mouth twitched and his black eyes narrowed.

"You should be careful," he hissed, she would have felt quite intimidated if this wasn't the exact same noise that her brother made when she or Nagini woke him up against his will. "who you talk to in that way."

He then turned on his heel and stalked out. His clark billowing out behind him and making him resemble a bat for all that's worth.

__"Rude. Who the hell does he think he is leaving in the middle of a conversation?"__ Magnus lectured inside Ekans' head.

__"I know, right."__Galacian agreed, making today one of the few times that he and Magnus agreed on something.

Ekans rolled her eyes.

With her sharpened hearing, she could hear the rattle of the carriage wheels growing louder. Now was her chance.

The doors to the great all where burst open by Professor McGonagall, the orange and yellow lights flooding into the hallway and causing all the first years to blink until their eyes adjusted.

"Come on then." Professor McGonagall said stiffly as she led the first years into the hall. Somehow Ekans, who slunk as far away fro her as she could, managed to find the self restraint to prevent herself from snatching up a fork, knife or spoon from one of the tables and gouging out her eyes.

All the other first years looked around at everything; the students, the teachers, the floating candles and the food but Ekasn kept her turquoise eyes fixed firmly on Dumbledore.

"See me, see me, see me." She muttered under her breath. She wanted him so badly to just glance up at her and realise, that everything had been for nothing. That she was alive and had come to tear down the web of lies that he'd woven around himself.

That she, quite literally, was bringing Slytherin back.

When they finished their little parade, all the students filed out in front of the teacher's table, were Ekans recognised only two people; Dumbledore and the greasy guy.

Minerva walked up the steps that led to the table and stopped by a small, hard worn stool on which there was placed a tattered, slightly ripped hat which Ekans instantly recognised as the root of evil, the reason that her family had suffered so much. The sorting hat.

Minerva picked it up as if it was nothing.

"Now listen hear, first years," she said in her thin, bossy voice, "When I call your name, you wil, step forwards and I will place the sorting hat upon your head. Thus sorting you into either Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Grythingdor or Slytherin."

She then unrolled the parchment and began to read out a list of names.

Dumbledore smiled to himself as he fondly ran his eyes over his future students. It was so hard to believe, that every person that sat at this table with him right now had at one point stood there nervously, waiting for the hat to sort them.

He looked at each student individually. Still smiling, until-

"What the-" he gasped, spilling some of the gravy that had been placed in front of him, "How- wha.. but..."

His voice trailed off as he continued to stammer. Severus, who was sitting next to him looked at him, "Is everything alright, headmaster?"

"Wha-oh yes I'm fine Severus." Dumbledore said hurriedly, quickly plastering on a fake smile. "I just spilled my gravy, that's all."

He then snapped his head around and continued to stare in utter disbelief at one of the soon-to-be students. Severus followed his eyes and he saw the girl that he'd spoken to earlier. She was smiling slightly, looking right at Dumbledore. As if to challenge him somehow.

"Black hair, turquoise eyes, pale skin, the same look. It can't be! But how?" Dumbledore said in despair and Severus gave him an odd look. Probably had some bad experience with this one or something.

He snorted. Children these days.

Ekasn flicked her eyes to Minerva McGonagall for one moment. From what Magnus told her, she should be reading out her name any second now.

Minerva's eyes flicked to the next name and almost immediately after reading it, her face whitened, her eyes widened and in desperation for it to not be true, she ripped off her spectacles, wiped them and hurriedly replaced them.

"E-Ekans G-Gaunt." She somehow managed to stammer.

Ekans merely grinned, showing her rather sharp teeth and raised her hand a little.

"That would be me." she said, smiling as innocently as it was physically possible for a person in her situation to.

Never in her whole life, had it been so hard to stop herself from laughing.


	25. Chapter 22

Chapter 24

Ekans slowly walked up the steps to the stool.

She noticed how Professor McGonagall took a few steps backwards, as if putting a few inches between them would stop her from being hurt. Ekans kept her eyes on Dumbledore, who looked at her with a mixture of panic and fear. The greasy guy's black eye's kept on flicking from her to Dumbledore.

Something was definitely wrong here - Severus thought to himself. He had never seen either of his colleges so afraid before.

She cast Minerva a disgusted look. Was she trying to draw attention to herself or something? It was common sense that even Ekans couldn't hope to win if she attacked either of them in front of the whole school.

She sat down. Glaring moodily at the doors. Let's just get this over.

Shaking, Minerva slowly began to lower the hat pausing every now and then; afraid to drop it and afraid to touch her.

When Ekans eventually felt the heavy, leathery weight of the hat push down onto her head, the whole school had already put two and two together and figured out that something was wrong. A few murmurs drifted up from the tables, curling through the air like mist.

Wonderful. There went Ekans' plan to mingle like a perfectly normal student.

Ekans blinked and continued her glaring. How immature, did none of these people know it was rude to stare let alone whisper at the table.

"Well, well, well," The sorting hat began in it's raspy voice which sounded rather like someone had sand-papered the insides of their throat, "I never expected you to come along. Marvolo's little sister, am I right."

Ekans smiled to herself and chucked darkly. Any thought that this was a coincidence should have vanished from their wrinkly old heads now.

The sorting hat waited for the signal. For the unfolding of this child's destiny. The unravelling of one of the four words in it's mind like spilt paint on a fresh canvas; Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor or Slytherin.

Nothing happened.

It waited, flicking absent mindedly through the child mind and froze.

There was nothing.

It looked again. Flicking through important memories as it hoped desperately that this was not what it thought.

But there was no denying it.

There was no secure destiny for this child. No solid brick road for then to walk. The sorting hat, for the first time since it's creation, had to chose by itself which path to set the child on.

And for the first time it was silent. The silence itself was deafening, suffocating even. Every second that was sliced away a reminder that this was not supposed to happen.

The sorting hat struggled to clear it's head as it evaluated this child's mind. Trying to find some sort of lead among the memories of darkness and death.

This child, if that was the word for it, could go into any of the houses and they would let a different path in each. There was the bravery of a Gryffindor, the knowledge of a Ravenclaw, the kindness of a Hufflepuff but... When the sorting hat imagined packing then off into one of these houses, they simply couldn't hope to expect anything good.

This child, had been raised to kill and hurt. They had seen too much death to have the hardened, unbroken innocence of the others. Also, the sorting hat felt this with the same grim knowledge that Ekans did, that war was coming. And this child couldn't die. They would change the wizarding world and for once, there was thanks in this mind. Someone who understood the tiredness of the sorting hat, to see so much, to hand out so many futures, and to never be thanked had come. And such a person could not go unnoticed.

Slowly, the sorting hat opened it's mouth and for the first time, it's mouth felt dry.

The whole school; both teachers and students, all lent in a little to hear what the sorting hat would say.

_"The power of silence," _Magnus whispered, afraid to break the quiet and cast a knowing glance at Galacian.

"Slytherin." The hat whispered, it's voice echoing around the hall.

And then words did form.

Thank you.

The hat smiled.

...

Ekans walked down to the Slytherin table. Every eye that watched her do so felt more like a needle pressing into her skin.

She sat down at the table. She did this as unceremoniously add provide but showy, people on either side of her moved away slightly, as if whatever it was that she'd done was contagious.

_"That's polite!"_ Galacian commented sarcastically,_ "dumb whores."_

The rest of the names were called out. But it did not go unnoticed that professor Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall were not as at ease as before.

It was being too bore Ekans. She just wanted it to be over.

As soon as the last one was sorted, Dumbledore stood up to make his speech as usual. A glass full of wine clenched in his hand. Though it did not go unnoticed that he was shaking.

"D-dear students," Severus rolled his eyes, not this crap again, "I am pleased to announce that anopther school," He accidentally glanced at the Slytherin table and had to take a large gulp of his wine, "year has began. This year Professor Gilderoy Lockhart has been chosen to be the dark arts teacher-" this was interrupted by squeals from some students and murderous glances from Snape- "As you have noticed this year we have a transfer student who has been transfered from home education, "his hands shaking so much that wine splashed out of his glass onto the satin tablecloth as he pointed with a quivering finger in the direction of the Slytherin table. _Everyone _turned to gape at Ekans who attempted to glare at everyone at the same time.

"I am sure that you will make them feel very welcome and may the feast begin." he finished his speech hurriedly and with simple flicks of his hands the food appeared on the plates. But perhaps it didn't look as delicious as it was supposed to.

Dumbledore grabbed McGonagall's hand and ran up the parting between the tables. Staying as far away as possible from the Slytherin table.

Ekans smiled to herself as mutters of worried conversations filled the air.

The taste of fear wasn't one she'd tasted for quite a while.

Even if it wasn't hers.


	26. Chapter 23

Chapter 25

Pansy woke up.

She didn't know why, maybe it was something to do with the weird girl that had only just joined the school, but she hadn't been able to sleep properly that whole night.

She sat up.

She had always know when something was happening. It was why she couldn't wait to take divination.

She got up and sliped her slippers on to muffle her footsteps as she padded down the rows of beds.

She didn't fail to notice that Ekans' bed was empty.

Tiptoeing down the common room stairs, she slipped out of the portrait hole with only a few complaints from the portraits and ghosts as she walked stealthily through the moon lit corridors.

The moon illuminated most of the corridors, meaning it was hard to keep to the shadows but she pressed on.

Suddenly, she stopped. She could hear a faint murmur; someone talking to themselves.

Flattening herself against the wall, she shuffled as quietly as she could to where the voice was coming from.

When she shuffled as far as she could to the edge of the corner that split the corridor, she gingerly poked her head around. Hoping against hope that it wasn't a teacher.

It wasn't.

Ekans was sitting on the window ledge of a window that she had flung open. She was silhouetted against the night sky but Pansy could see fairly clearly that she was holding a flower between two of her fingers.

Ekans sighed and looked up at the star lit sky, still twirling her flower between two fingers, the stars and moon reflected in her eyes.

"It's been a while, Sully," She began ,"But I still remember. I still think the same thing, every day, without even realising it. I still mourn you. And I always think the same thing; that it should've been me. That it shoud've been me lying there in the snow with my guts splattered everywhere, bleeding out my life. It should've been me. But it wasn't. It was you.

"You were so young. We all were, but you were the most innocent, the kindest. You cared. You could've made something out of your life. It was clear that we, me and Marv, were doomed. But you weren't. You could've become a healer or even, God forbid, a member of the Ministry of Magic, You could've done something. You should've lived.

"And every day, I think that...maybe it's better this way. You wouldn't like the world as it is now; all full of liars and murder. A place were no one knows that every stone and rock they step on was once red with blood. They don't care either. No one remembers, Sully, that once we were there, rotting away in the dark while they were laughing and eating till they burst. No one even knows who I am. No one was aware that I was alive. No one." Ekans sighed again and rested her head on her knees, still twirling her flower, "You wouldn't like the person I've become much either."

"And though I don't know where you are, what you're doing, I hope that you're happy. I hope that you remember me as I remember you and Marv," Ekans smiled and reached her hand out of the window. The flower balanced on it's stem on her finger, "Happy Birthday, Sully."

Ekans flipped her finger, and the flower spiralled down into the darkness.

While the flower fell, she sang a song that chilled Pansy to the bone;

"Close your eyes and go to sleep,

Down in dark and in the deep,

And when you open again your eyes,

Greeted they'll be by Heaven's skies.

Clear and clean for you they'll be,

But next to you there will be no me,

Close your eyes and go to sleep,

So all those that knew you can weep,

And when you open again your eyes,

There will be a moon and stars that shine,

Looking down at you for me,

But next to you I just can't be,

So close your eyes and go to sleep,

And with the angels you will be,

But I can't go with you so this is goodbye."

Ekans was smiling faintly as she sang it. And Pansy felt nothing but pity for her. Whatever hed happened, there was some sort of unspoken law, some sort of undeniable connection that made her promise silently to not tell anyone about what had happened here. Not Draco, not any of her friends, not even her family. She would carry this around in her heart until the day she died.

Somehow. Ekans had become her friend.

Pansy trailed back to her dorm and fell asleep in a few hours. All while Ekans stayed sat on the window ledge, singing to herself quietly until; morning came.


	27. Chapter 24

**This is a rather long chapter because I will be going away for the Christmas holidays so I may not be able to update and I want to get as far as I can into the story.**

**Also, thank you so much to the people who have PMed me or reviewed, You have no idea how happy it makes me. **

Chapter 26

"Good morning Ekans! Did you sleep well!" Ekans sighed, here we go again.

"You already said good morning to me." She said dully.

"I have?"

"Yes, you say it about five times every day."

For the first few days, Pansy had taken to being 'overly friendly'. Mostly it involved her dragging Ekans around to every single lesson they had together, sitting next to her in every. Single. Class. Always pointing everything out to her and just generally being annoying.

"I slept fine." Ekans mumbled, trying as hard as she could to dissolve into the bench she was sitting on while pushing her breakfast around her plate moodily.

"That's nice." Pansy pulled out her timetable. Just like every other student at the Slytherin table was doing, "Let's see... Charms with shorty-"

"Flitwick." Ekans, who believed in calling things by their proper names muttered. Pansy ignored her as per usual.

"-then we have transfiguration with Mrs. Toadface, herbology and- ohh... then we have potions with Professor Snape."

Pnasy swivelled around in her seat; "I don't think you've met him yet."

Ekans groaned inwardly. Great, now Pansy had a new thing to 'teach' her.

"Well come on, what are we waiting for!" Pansy shrieked grabbing Ekans by the hand and towing her out of the hall. Receiving a few odd looks from the other tables and a few snickers from some of the students.

. . .

"That was a rather regrettable moment of my life." Ekans said as she and the others trekked down the steps to the dungeon. Apparently, as Draco had learned the hard way in herbology, you shouldn't stick your spile into the main body of a dragon beet plant. He was now in the hospital wing, having the juice scraped off him.

Now Ekans was having a ratehr bad day if you get what I mean. First off, about five students had approached her asking whether or not she had cheated in the mini exam that she'd had to do for each subject so they could examine if she was at the same level as the other students. One bushy haired girl in particular, seemed to have made it her duty to declare Ekans a fraud as she had thoroughly impressed almost every single teacher with her skills which had been drilled into her by either her brothers or life in general.

Secondly, Galacian had been making rather rude lesbian jokes ever since Pansy started 'hanging' around with Ekans and, well, you can't just yell "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" in the middle of a lesson with a teacher who is already nearly scared to death of you.

Thirdly, now this was annoying, but the school caretaker, Filch, who seeing that Dumbledore hadn't been able to explain the rules properly, had decided to follow every single student around the school in turn and it appeared that it was now Ekans' go. He had followed her from lesson to lesson and a lot of people found this rather amusing. She had seen multiple people laughing their fat little faces off and a few teachers raising hands to hide smiles or turning heir giggles into coughs rather unsuccessfully.

"Here we are!" Pansy said cheerfully, but she was like that about everything. "Now I don't know if I've told you this but-"

Ekans somehow found the restraint to stop herself from banging her head on the cold, stone flagstone that covered not only the floor but also the walls.

"-he really favouritises Slytherins, I mean, he is our house keeper after all! Anyway, he should give you pretty good grades, not that you need it or anything." She finished quickly as they took their place in the line. Outside the classroom.

Magnus wasn't impressed, _"Fucking teachers! they tell you off for being late and look! It's been five minutes! The slag's probably passed out drunk somewhere?"_

Fortunately, the teacher managed to grace them with his pleasant company soon after.

It was the greasy guy...

Ekans wasn't surprised.

His black eyes swept over them as he took the register, saying everyone's name in a way that made you feel like he wanted you to be somewhere else rather badly, it was roughly at this point that Ekans realized that all these gestures were made to intimidate them.

When he got to Ekans' name, he paused and drew his lips up ina rather creepy smile. It would've been quite creepy had this not been the face that Nagini made whenever her brother realised the real reason his wand felt rather damp.

"Well, well.." he began, "our new transfer student."

He sure was putting a lot of effort into psychologically torturing children.

"I am perfectly well aware that I am a transfer student." Ekans said simply. She wasn't going to give in to this wacko that easily.

His eyes narrowed, making it impossible to see the white in his eyes.

"I see we think we're too good for this school, Miss. Gaunt." He had a really annoying voice. Ekans and her three animals were peeved. They hadn't said anything that rude.

Had they?

He closed the register, apparently no one else here mattered. And he called her rude! The hypocrite.

"Well, we'll see about that."

"He says well waaaay too much." Galacian commented and Ekans agreed with him silently.

"Now let's see. I do believe," he continued and Ekans had the feeling that he was building up to something rather unpleasant. People were like that. "that you are to be assigned a potions assessment for the lesson?"

"Yes." Ekans decided to stay quiet this time. After all, it's the thought that matters.

"Let's see then..." he got up and started walking around the class, walking in between the desks to some cupboards at the back of the classroom, on the far left side of the door. "I could assign you to make a forgetfulness potion. That is what the others were tested but, from what I can gather from the other members of staff, you are particularly skilled in the art of magic." He picked up a small glass vial that was full of a clear looking, perhaps slightly shimmery substance. "But we shall see, if this is how it is with potions."

He pocketed the vial and returned to the front of his desk.

"Turn to page 96 in your textbooks and brew the sleeping drought that is made from powdered snake fang and-" he shot a glance in a rather fat, plain looking boy's direction, making the boy shake so much that the ingredients that he had lain out started to shake with him, "-and liverstone. Which we all know, are extremely reactive when added in the incorrect way. Please do attempt to keep your cauldron in one piece this time, Mr. Longbottom."

A few people snickered and the boy blushed.

Ekans was really beginning to dislike this other human being.

But still, at least he took his job seriously.

"As for you," He turned to Ekans and slipped out the glass vial, dangling it in front of her, "Do you know what this is?"

Ekans blinked at him, very slowly and deliberately to show him just how many fucks she gave.

"It's a clearbane potion," she paused, "sir."

He drew back. Clearly he hadn't been expecting her to guess it. It was, although not that uncommon, very hard to make and there wasn't much that it did that was useful. It was only mentioned once in the potion textbook.

Ekans wasn't interested in what he thought of her answer though. She was more interested that she could see the reflection of Hermione Granger's seething expression in the polished side of her cauldron. How interesting.

"You will have to make one of these potions until the lesson is over. If not," He said threateningly, "then I will arrange to have you put with the first years for potions." He picked off a book and dropped it on her desk before striding off to pick on the Longbottom boy, who appeared to have melted away the metal legs of his cauldron by placing it in the wrong place over the fire.

Ekans' eyes flicked back to her cauldron. Hermione was smiling to herself as she got on with her potion, apparently, she too didn't expect Ekans to be able to make this.

Ekans smirked.

How wrong they all were.

What they clearly didn't know was that one of the function of the clearbane was strengthening metals and preventing them from rusting by coating them in a glass like substance. It wasn't very effective, and it wore away but Marvolo had taught her a way to make it that made the effects much better. There had not been a single knife in their possession that rusted or broke. Which had kept them alive for quite a while.

Ekans set to work, because she had been sat down away from the class to prevent her from cheating and turned away from them as well (personally, Ekans thought that was just overkill. After all, it's oh-so obvious that everyone in this school knows fluent sign language.) so she spent the lesson undisturbed and in peace. Except, of course, for Galacian and Magnus' bickering. The only time someone bothered her was when the greasy guy came over to be immensely disappointed by the fact that she hadn't blown up yet. Neither his nor Hermione's mood improved when Ekans' finished product ended out to be better than his.

Ekans thought that to be quite depressing, when you can't make a better potion than a thirteen year old.

When the lesson, much to everyone's relief, finally ended, all the students poured out and made their way to the great hall for lunch.

Ekans was relieved that Pansy, who had been assigned to make her potion with a snotty Gryffindor boy whose lip kept on getting caught in his retainer, stomped off moodily after them, complaining to anyone that cared to listen.

It was then, in the quiet of the deserted corridor that Ekans first heard it.

It started out as nothing more than a light rustle and Ekans dismissed it as nothing but the wind whistling through the gaps in the flagstones. Then it got louder, and louder.

Ekans stopped, she could definitely hear something. Some sort of smooth sound, like a snake slithering over something. It was then that Ekans realised that this was the exact noise that she was hearing.

She stopped dead, the sound continued. She pressed her ear the wall, yep, she knew a snake when she heard one but why was a snake in the walls? It made no sense?

She began to creep along the corridor, following the noise, her ear pressed against the wall.

She followed it through the corridors. And then stopped as soon as she saw where it had led her.

The girl's bathroom.

Really?

She sighed. Oh well, there was no harm.

She pushed open the door and poked her head around. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to see, but whatever it had been, it certainly wasn't a perhaps slightly flooded but otherwise perfectly normal toilet intended for the female species.

Ekans snorted. At least she had something to do tonight except write a letter to her brother telling him everything was fine at Hogwarts and to please stop enchanting all the dead owls to come flying into her dorm in the middle of the night and then flop down dead. People were beginning to ask questions.

She sighed. Then glanced down the corridor. There was no harm in taking a look. After all, she didn't have any lessons to go to for an hour and nobody would be able to annoy her here...

She stepped inside.

she walked through the room, the thin layer of water on the floor sending ripples to every corner of the room with each step she took. Her turquoise eyes looked for something unusual, something out of place...

She stepped towards the centre of the bathroom; she noticed that the sink was placed in an unusual place. Why the centre?

She stepped closer.

She looked at it; the sink was shaped like a nonagon, with a mirror above each sink which adorned each side. How strange...

It just so happened that the number nine was something that was used in a special ritual created by Salazar Slytherin. This could just be a coincidence...of course, there was always that chance but at the same time... It didn't fit with the rest of the room.

She bent down to look at the mirrors.

Her eye just happened to glance down and she wasn't sure if what she saw was real but she could've sworn that-

Footsteps approached the bathroom. Stumbling slightly, hurrying away from something.

Ekans didn't hang about, she dashed into the nearest cubicle and hid. Who knows what this person could be doing?

The door opened and a girl with long, slightly messy light blonde hair stepped inside. Judging by her sniffling and sobbing, Ekans guessed that she was crying.

The girl ran to a sink and continued her crying. Ekans noticed that she had what looked like radishes for earrings.

More footsteps neared the door. These ones seemed sure of themselves. No, full of themselves, even.

Ekans disliked whoever they belonged to immediately.

"I think she went in here." A harsh voice said from the door.

The girl at the sink froze. Ekans peeked through a gap made by the hinge and saw that she had a blue tie that was done up rather scruffily. Ravenclaw.

"That's right. Back where she belongs." They both snickered and Ekans was amazed that someone could find something that dumb offensive.

The door opened again. Two girls, also Ravenclaws, stepped in.

"Look Vera," one of then, a girl with paired auburn hair, "the little bitch got hurt. Did she finally realise that she doesn't being here with her dumb liar of a father."

The girl turned around and Ekans was glad to see that she was fighting back.

"My father's not a liar!" She then cowered back as soon as she realised what she'd said and the two other girls stepped forwards.

"So you're father's not a liar is he now? Then what about all that shit he prints in his 'magazine'" She made the quote marks with her long, perfectly manicured fingers, "Are you saying that all that shit about albino mountain humpledinks is true?"

The other one sneered.

"No wonder your mother didn't want to hang around. With a family like that who the hell would want to-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Ekans couldn't take all this shit any longer. She literally flung herself out of the cubicle and did what any sane person would do, she picked up the first (now terrified) girl up by her tie which she suspected had been sprayed with perfume and shoved her into one of the mirrors. A nasty cracking sound followed and Ekans indifferently suspected that she had broken one of her ribs.

She then smashed her free fist into her face, feeling a slight sense of friction as her breaking her nose.

Blood splattered onto both of their robes, making the water that was fizzing from the broken tap turn red and dribble onto the floor.

Ekans yanked her up and shouted into her face, "DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT ABOUT SOMEONE'S FAMILY, YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Ekans smashed her face down into the sink, a bit of the rusty, golden tap flew off and skittered across the wet floor.

Ekans watched it do so and noticed the other bully.

She stood in the exact place that she'd been standing in before, looking petrified with shock and horror at what she had just seen. She saw Ekans looking at her and she turned on her heels and fled.

Ekans picked up the other girl and unceremoniously threw her outside.

"Are you okay?" Ekans crouched by the blonde ravenclaw. Her watery eyes were full of shock and there were still tear marks on her face.

"I-I guess I'm okay." She pressed her back to the sink. Trembling slightly.

"Hey Hey." Ekans drew back and stood up, dusting herself down, "I'm not going to hurt you. There's no need to look at me like I'm a psychopath that just broke into your house and killed your whole family."

"Umm.. Sorry. Thanks." she muttered, trying to stand up, slipping on the bloody water and landing right back on the floor.

Ekans held out a hand and helped her up.

"So... Why were they picking on you in the first place?" She caught sight of the girl's pained face and quickly added, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

The girl sighed.

"It's my father. He's the main editor of the Quibbler and everyone thinks that he's an idiot and a liar"

Ekans inhaled sharply.

That was mean... Really, really mean. Picking on someone for something they can't change, like their family.

"Well, if they don't like you or your father, then why are they 'wasting' precious moments of their life talking to you?"

The girl looked thoughtful. "I don't know."

"It's because they're retarded!" Ekans exclaimed, kicking herself up off the floor and pointing with her finger into the air.

The girl smiled and looked much happier.

Unfortunately, this rather touching moment of childhood friendship was interrupted by about all the female teachers (except one, of course) barging in and the rest all standing rather awkwardly yet still angrily outside.

In other words, Ekans was whisked off to the dungeons to be lectured and to have about a full year of detentions issued.

. . .

"I have never been so ashamed of a student in my while life! And to think that you're in my house as well! Do you have any idea what you've done? If it we're up to me, you'd be packing your bags already!"

It was at this moment that Ekans felt rather sorry for Snape, who was putting so much effort into a very impressive sounding lecture that she couldn't actually hear due to the fact that Galacian was yelling blah blah blah blah as loudly as he could.

"-now for whatever mysterious reason, professor Dumbledore believes that expelling to is a 'terrible' idea so instead I have decided to issue you with thorough detentions for the while term. Also, you will receive extra homework and we ask expect you to go to the hospital wing and apologise to the student that you attacked-"

"Attacked! I didn't attack her! Okay, maybe I did but I'm not apologising to HER! Never in a million years!"

He looked absolutely shocked at this.

"What," he hissed, "did you just say!?"

Ekans folded her arms and glared at him defiantly.

"I said that I'm not going to apologise to her."

"You are a disgrace to the house of Slytherin! If it were my choice then-"

"I would already be packing my bags." Ekans finished glumly.

"5 points more off Slytherin for insolence." He barked. Though Ekans highly doubted that there were any house points left.

"Also," a hint of slight alarm crept into his voice, "what the hell were you thinking?! You went against two third year students, without using a wand, using nothing but physical force."

He sat down.

"Why?"

Ekans fidgeted slightly, she was going to have to tread very carefully here, this want her secret to tell.

"I was sticking up for that girl." She said eventually.

"You don't even know her name? 5 points off all the houses."

"So maybe I don't know her name. I don't see why it matters." Ekans muttered stubbornly. Flushing slightly, he was right... She didn't even know her name...

"Another 5 points off all the house and why?" He said despairingly.

"Some people were picking on her. That's all I can say."

"Oh really." He snorted and folded his arms, "it's very strange to hear you say that, seeing that it's common knowledge that Slytherins can't keep a secret unless it's their own."

Ekans felt herself tense.

He smirked.

The psycho.

"Oh sorry, did I touch a nerve there?" He said mockingly.

Ekans bit the inside of her mouth. She'd heard that before... So...Many...Times...

He glanced down at her and sighed; "you can go. But you had better come here after your lessons are over for your first detention. If not, then you'll be sorry."

Ekans stood up and walked out. Not saying anything.

He watched her go.

More trouble. As if he didn't have enough already with Potter and the Weasleys, now a fucking Gaunt had turned up...

. . .

Ekans stepped out into the corridor. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

What did all of this mean?

"Um... Hi. Ekans."

Ekans looked down, it was the girl from before.

"Was he too hard on you? That must've been scary. He gets reeeaaallly nasty."

Ekans smiled.

"It wasn't THAT bad. Also, I don't mean to be rude but, what's your name?"

The girl blinked.

"My name of Luna, Luna Lovegood."

"That's a nice name. I'm Ekans, Ekans Gaunt."

She reached out and shook the younger girl's hand.

"You do realise that everyone in the school probably knows your name," She said matter-of-factly, "He was speaking above the usual volume."

Ekans smiled.

She rather like this kid.

"Ekans darling!" An all too familiar voice yelled, shortly followed by an extremely large cannon ball being knocked into her, "are you okay? Did they hurt you? Was he hard on you? Were you raped?" All of this came out as an almost illegible babble.

"WTF are you taking about! I wasn't raped where the hell did you get-"

"What the hell are you all doing talking about tape in front of my office?" A voice screeched from being the door.

"Shit! Run!" Ekans grabbed on to Pansy and Luna, going that Pansy would green on to Draco, who seemed to have tagged along and later told them all in graphic detail how much blood had been smeared all over the face girl's face while they were all in the middle of a bowl of tomato soup.

That night, Ekans fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Somehow, she had made some friends.


	28. Chapter 25

**This is another flashback chapter, I will do these every once in a while and I hope you like them! **

**This one is a little creepy though, if you aren't enough to understand how it is creepy though, then I suggest that you stop reading this right now. **

Chapter 27

Bella could feel it: the heavy incense of pain, death and destruction that always hung over them like a cloud whenever they gathered, hear the screams and gasps of her fellow death eaters as her lord called them forwards, listed their crimes and punished them. Wearing the same, cold, heartless expression the he always did.

She waited patiently like a dog before it's master, for that is what she was, waiting for his cold, clear voice to call her name. For him to say it, to ignite the spark of ice that she loved so much.

"Bellatrix Lestrange." He said sharply. Every syllable that he said seemed to force itself through her ears, into her body, into her bloodstream all the way up to her heart.

She walked towards him, stepping into the dark mist that always seemed to surround him, that clung to his every moment and that corrupted the very air he breathed. She wanted that darkness. Wanted it to take root inside her, to corrupt and suck away all kindness from her just like it had done for her lord.

Her lord was ice and fire at the same time, an inferno that was trapped in a prison of ice. You never knew when the ice may shatter and the fire would come roaring out, smothering and suffocating you with the most deadly, venomous and intense pain that you can ever imagine. She loved it. Loved him.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," He said in his harsh voice, her surname sounded like a slap in the face, "Unfortunately, you like all the others, have been unable to follow my orders, and you shall be punished."

She felt a horrible pain inside her chest. It wasn't fear that he would hurt her, she knew that would happen, and it didn't scare her, it was the thought that her lord would be displeased with her that frightened her the most. That she would fall from the grace that she so wanted to have in his eyes.

She felt the shadow of his hand as he raised it, "Crucio."

He said it almost a whisper. But the flames inside began immediately. She felt the hot fire, lacing up her veins, as if someone had sucked out all her blood and replaced it with acid and fire. As if she was being stabbed with sharp knives in place that she never knew could hurt so much.

"Crucio." He said again, he said it in an almost bored way but she doubted any of the others noticed, they never did.

The pain continued but her screams were almost moans. She loved this pain. Loved the way that all of her lord's hate and secret agonies were being thrust inside her.

She knew, as all people that know how to make a painful crucio do, that in one spell, you take all the anger and pain that you have ever felt and pack it into a spell.

The pain gave her hope.

Crippled, dark hope that she craved and wanted.

He flicked hos wand, a sign for her to go.

She backed away almost reluctantly.

Something touched her hand; Rodolphus.

She almost snarled. She hated him, the only time he ever showed her kindness was in front of others, he was loyal to no one except himself, and he loved and cared only for the person he saw in the mirror every day.

Yet they were joined, connected by that dratted ring that she wanted to rip off so badly. For what did it mean to her? Except that her 'family' would get a few galleons every month. She hated it so much.

She refused to look at him.

Never, never would there come a day that she forgot or forgave for what he'd done to her that night.

What he'd made her go through.

Why she wore this damned ring-

She woke up with a start.

She then sighed and sank back onto the hard, ice cold floor while the storm that had been permanently enchanted over Azkaban raged on. The spell that protected them from muggles.

Her eyes flicked to the corner of the cell she was locked in.

The flash of thunder had shown her...It had to be an illusion. Caused by lack of food or the dementors.

But she could've sworn that she had seen two red eyes and a rueful, crooked smile watching over her.


	29. THANX FOR 2000 VIEWS!

**THANK YOU FOR 2000 VIEWS! **

**This is a big achievement for me and if there are any characters that you would want to appear in this or if you have anything you want to say about my story then please do! **


	30. Chapter 26

**The next few chapters of this may be written using a sort of pattern, as I want to include as many teachers, death eaters and characters as I can.**

**Also, I'm going away for a while so updates may be a little slower but I will include as much as I can.**

**Regardless, if there are any characters that you want me to include then please tell me and I'll try to include them!**

It had been the weeks, since Ekans' first fight. Things surrounding the actual event had calmed down and, as it was with emotional teenage girls at boarding schools, the rumors were still going strong.

So far, the most popular one was that not only had Ekans viciously attacked the girl, but she had dragged her to the dungeons, chained her to the wall, tortured her and used a ciriticus curse on her, but also she had locked her in a room and forced her to watch gay porn.

"Now all the sane people knew that this was absolute bullshit but no one really cared what the sane people thought.

This probably wouldn't have bothered Ekans in the first place but it was nice to see Pansy shoot a hex over her shoulder at a bunch of girls that liked to whisper and shoot venomous glances at Ekans.

However, there were a few differences between Ekans and her associates.

For example, Pansy and the others found potions boring (not to mention rather creepy) whilst Ekans found it very relaxing and enjoyable, Draco hate transfiguration, as he had to sit far too close to his liking to 'Potter and his worshipers', Pansy didn't mind, she say next to Ekans and could copy all her work which Ekans did not appreciate, as her work barely ever got marked due Professor McGonagall's Ekansophobia (this was a brand new word that Draco had invented and he insisted was very hip). Luna liked charms and 'care of magical creatures' most of all, as she always said, "how else are supposed to know what to do if we meet a carnivorous albino hippledunk?". Ekans absolutely despised this. The teacher was annoying and she sat next to a pervert who always laughed like a donkey whenever he was told to, 'take his wand out'.

Now one thing they could all agree on was defense against the dark arts. Which everyone thought was horribly taught, even the other teachers thought so. And as this was coming from the school that had once hired someone who was allergic to animal fur for 'care of magical creatures' but had to retire after he was eaten by a sphinx during one of his allergic reactions, that really said something.

Also, due to Flitwick wanting to minimize the contact of his students with the 'troublesome child' that he called Ekans, he had moved his students to take most of their lessons with the Hufflepuffs. Which day week with everybody. Except of course, the majority of the school.

Now it was Ekans' first DADA lesson with the Gryffindors. She was not all too happy. As this would mean seeing more of Hermione, who she had decided that she hated.

"You know," Draco said glumly after they left Luna at her lesson, "I think that the Gryffindor house animal should be a dog."

"Really. Why?" Ekans replied, opening the door to the room they took their lesson.

"Cos it's full of bitches." He jerked his head in the direction of his arch enemy and sat down.

As per usual with the school, the teacher was late. When he did arrive, he mostly laughed, read and acted out most of his extremely terrible books that Ekans' brother had banned her from reading and she was rather sorry that the two had never met as shall would love to see if this guy really had any brains at all. Then he would do something stupid such as, oh I don't know, drag in a cage full of fairies into the class, let them loose and then let some inexperienced children sort it out.

"Now remember children," he said with a forced laugh as he dodged a fairy that had dived for his golden hair, "they're called brookies because they're generally found near brooks and meadows," he then fled from the class, clutching his hair in a way that made Ekans suspect that he was wearing a wig.

"Goddamn bastard!" Draco swore as he attempted to save a book from being urinated on by a fairy.

Ekans sneaked a glance at Hermione, who caught it and smiled icily at her. Ekans was glad to see that she and the others hadn't noticed that all the fairies were trying their best to put at least two meters distance between them; it was one of the side effects of having three animals living inside your head, there were some magical creatures that could hear them.

Hermione then flipped out her bushy hair in a way that for her sake Ekans hoped she didn't think made her look attractive, and pointed her wand upwards.

Giving her wand a flick, she muttered an incantation and one of the fairies' wings seemed to stick together, causing it to drop onto a desk and immediately pick itself up to dodge the grasping hands that had instantly made an effort to grab it.

"Wicked," Ron Weasley, who was standing next to her breathed, "Honestly, you're the most talented witch I know!"

She glanced over at Ekans and Ekans knew instantly what was going to happen next. She'd seen it happen far too many times for her liking.

Magnus chuckled and Galacian smirked, _"I thought that it was getting boring around here..."_

Hermione literally waltzed up to where Ekans was standing and flipped her hair again before she began speaking;

"Hello, Ekans," she said, batting her eyelashes and smiling, "I must admit, I'm a little surprised, I thought you all were more capable than that."

She paused and looked around to see if any of them had grasped the bait, none of them did.

Ekans noticed out of the corner of her eye that Pansy's hands were clenched into fists at her sides and she could almost hear her grinding her teeth.

"Oh well," Hermione sniffed stiffly as she jerked up her wand arm, "I guess that I'll just have to clean up this mess for you."

"She pointed her wand at one of the bluish fairies that was frittering over their heads.

"We don't need your help," Pansy snapped sharply, stepping forwards so suddenly that the chair that she'd been gripping went flying to the floor, "We can do this ourselves thank you very much."

"Hermoione snorted and said with forced unhappiness, "Oh, can you?" She then smiled at them and stepped back, "Well why don't you prove it then."

Pansy shot her a venomous glare and pointed her wand at a fairy that was hovering in front of a shelf behind the teacher's desk, looking at a bottle full of a vibrant pink liquid with immense interest.

She muttered some sort of spell under her breath and a jet of yellow light that was streaked with silver sparks shot out and struck home.

The fairy squealed and transformed into glowing blue goblet that had two fluttering wings poking out of it's stem.

It wasn't much, but it was enough to give Pansy enough time to grab it and shove it into one of the cages.

She then walked up to Hermione, "You see, we don't need your help so can you like, oh I don't know, Fuck off already."

She then turned on her heel and it warmed Ekans greatly to she her deflect the hex that Hermione shot at her.

Hermione huffed and flipped up her hair again, making pretty much so everyone want to rush up to her, grab a big chunk and pull.

"W-Well..." she stuttered, her brown eyes darting from person to person, looking for a way to even this out. Her eyes landed on Ekans and Ekans had a feeling that she knew exactly what was going to happen next, "I'm just surprised that you're letting your peers get ahead of you, that's unlike you."

Ekans blinked, "What drugs have you been taking today?"

Hermione gasped and Ekans was disgusted that she thought it was okay for her to insult others but not for them to insult her. Who the hell did she think she was.

"See...Y-you're not good at anything really are you? You just balance on the shoulders of other's achievements, you must've cheated in the exams." She said this desperately, glowing more and more with ever word.

Ekans was taken aback. WTF? This wasn't even funny, this was turning into a full on scale provocation. Someone needed to put that bitch back in her proper place.

_"Careful..."_ Magnus growled, _"She doesn't know what you're capable of. Be careful, you don't want anyone to be getting suspicious do you?"_

Ekans gritted her teeth. He was right, she needed to be careful here, people were already suspicious of her. If she made the wrong move them the consequences would be ugly.

"That's not true." Ekans stated simply. Just because she couldn't do what she wanted didn't mean that she had to let this bitch walk all over her.

"Oh really," Hermione sauntered forwards until she was right in front of Ekans. Then she whispered right in her face, "then why don't you prove it."

She stepped back. Looking very smug and pleased with herself.

Ekans praised for a moment and then shrugged.

She asked for it.

Ekans raised her wand, she waved it in a circle once. Blue sparks shot out from it, drawing a sphere in the air. Out seemed to singer with a strange silvery light, the air out touched sparking, connected to the tip of Ekans' wand through a thin, fine, threadlike cord. A strange humming sound seemed to be coming from inside it.

Hermione was just about to say something snide when she realized that all the fairies has stopped moving. They were all slowly gliding to the ground near the sphere, lying down and... Falling asleep?

By the time that half a minute had passed, every fairy in the room was fast asleep; wings fluttering slightly and ears twitching as they slept.

With a flick of her wand, the sphere burst silently, the shimmery droplets it had turned into dissolved in thin air.

Ekans looked over at Hermione and raised an eyebrow.

Hermione looked like she was going to explode; her cheeks were flushed bright red, her eyes were twitching with hatred and even her hair seemed to be quivering with rage.

Finally, she turned on her heel sharply and stomped out, dragging a protesting Harry and Ron behind her.

"Oh how mature." Draco commented sarcastically, straightening one of the desks that some of the fairies had been trying to throw against the wall in vain.

"That's it," Pansy whispered so only Ekans could hear her, "she's gonna have it in for you now."

Ekans shrugged.

"She can do whatever the hell she likes." Ekans just sincerely hoped that Hermione wouldn't stick her nose in to such a state where Ekans would have to kill her.

Though the probability was quite high that she would.

. . .

_I feel the harsh roughness of the stone pipes as I slithered through them. And though it hurt me, my spirit was soaring._

_They have come._

_The heir that I had waited for has arrived._

_And though right now I was controlled by another, a fake that had to leech of another's life force in order to survive, the day would come that I would bow at their feet and be theirs to command._

_That day was coming so soon I could almost taste it in the air._

_Soon... Soon what Salazar had believed would happened would come true, what he had prophesied all those years ago would become reality._

_But there was nothing I could do for now; I had not the knowledge nor the power to defy my 'master' and neither could I reach out to the Heir without alerting HIM._

_Also, I was old, my strength and eyes were fading me, vanishing into the mist of time, just as I knew I would when I was first sealed off in the Chamber._

_I have sighted my victim now._

_I have no desire to take life without a reason, and this is not a cause that I approve of, the person that I follow has been caught in the web of lies that had been spun by Godric Gryffindor. Swallowed every last one and politely asked for more._

_The true heir hasn't._

_That warms my tired heart and lights a fire of hope inside me. The war is coming, and this time=, we shall not lose._  
_Just as I promised Salazar, as we promised each other, that we would do all we could to make a better world for the children of tomorrow._

_And as I had promised myself silently as soon as a snake brought me the news; Salazar would be avenged._

_I would cry for him if my eyes allowed it, but I cannot. And I am judged for that. People believe that just because I cannot show emotion, that I have no complex feelings, that I am a cold, hard and empty shell that all snakes, even the human ones, are believed to be._

_I feel sorry for my victim as I watch them curiously raise their head to look at me, their dying expression one of confusion, fear and understanding._

_I slither away_

_Soon..._


	31. Chapter 27 - Fennir

Chapter 26 - Fennir

He couldn't stand it any longer.

The pain.

The wires.

The endless beeping of the machines.

The darkness...

The horrible suffocating blackness that smothered and eloped him, forcing itself down his throat and into his lungs, poisoning the air inside them, poisoning him. Squeezing all the life and love out of him until he was nothing but an empty shell, a puzzle that had broken while they were trying to solve it and now had to be thrown away.

Just like they had done with his mother.

His poor, kind, loving mother who hadn't known... who hadn't wanted... who tried to protect him from his father when he turned them both and the white coats when they came for them.

He still missed her now, even now and even though the blood he'd spilled had washed away his sanity.

Maybe that was why...

But she was dead now.

Gone.

As she had been for years.

He could see them. Past the thick glass wall that they'd shut him in, see their long white rubber coats, see the glint of the spectacles and goggles they wore as they took notes and tapped their lips with their pens. Thinking.

Thinking about what they could do with him.

Cut him, kill him. Slowly take him apart like he was some sort of living jigsaw, only to realise too late that he couldn't be put back together again.

That was when he first saw it.

A flash of hope.

At first he thought that it was just lightning but then he realised that there were two things wrong with this theory. Firstly, the flash had gone up and second, it had been green.

Then, as if by magic, a smoky green cloud unfurled from where the flash had struck the sky, unfolding to make a symbol.

A bright green skull suspended in the air with a long, hissing snake slithering out of it's mouth.

He could hear snippets of conversations going on around him; terrorists, government, explosives, smoke, haze.

But somehow, none of these things seemed to explain what he saw in front of him.

He turned his head to the side and spat out some of the blood that was in his mouth. The taste of salt and misery subsided a little.

That was when the first miracle happened.

He seemed to hear a cold, clear and harsh voice whisper something. Somehow the voice stole through the gaps in the bricks, the space in between the tiles, through the minuscule crack in bottom right hand corner of the window into his head. He couldn't hear what the voice said exactly, but he knew that a split second later, the wall exploded.

Pieces of shrapnel and concrete flew in all directions, smashed glass and clouds of grey dust flew into his face, blinding him monetarily, the sound of yelling and screaming resonated in his head like a spiralling melody being replayed again and again by a broken record.

His face, arms and legs were covered with millions of bright red lines, each one dribbling drops of blood across his dirty, rough skin. Cutting through the grime and dust that coated him like a second skin.

He felt his bloodshot, yellowed eyes snake to where, a few seconds ago , a wall had stood.

Past the rubble that littered the floor, he could see, silhouetted against the cloudy sky and rearing symbol in the sky, there stood a group of hooded figures.

The tallest one that stood at the front, raised his hand and he heard the same cold, icy voice issue a command that part of him greeted with blood stained love and the other part with sheer horror.

"Kill them all."

Some of the people moved forwards and only one of them, a little shorter than the others stopped and hovered near Fennir.

"M-my lord," He said in a wavering voice, full of fear and respect, "There's a boy here, I'm positive that he's the same one that Rygene turned, you know, the Greyback one."

He felt a boiling hatred rise and writhe within him at the mention of his father, who had caused his family, him and his mother, so much misery and pain.

"Is he?" The 'Lord' said this like he had known it all along, the rest of his followers already at work, the air already full with the screams of the dying, "Well don't just stand there, he's a half blood, get him some robes and a weapon, as far as I'm concerned he's worthy of joining our ranks."

Before he had been able to fully register what was going on, he found the figure raising what looked like a stick and waving it in a circle.

A warm, snaking, spiral seemed to wrap itself around him, clothing him for what seemed like the first time in his life.

The leader flicked his hand again.

"What are you all standing around here for? Go and kill these worthless muggles, I shall speak to the boy alone."

The people bowed to him and hurried away. The screams only thickened. Fennir felt no sympathy. They totally deserved it.

He felt a bubble of excitement rise inside him. These people knew who he was, maybe they'd get him out of here and, well, any place that wasn't here, with the wires and white coats and the white sheet that they had hurriedly thrown over his mother's decomposing body, sounded fine to him.

He looked up at the person as they approached him, hoping to catch a glimpse of their face but all he saw was two gleaming red eyes under a black hood. However, these eyes were not warm, like the red fire his mother had taught him how to light in winter, but they were cold. Cold like ice, and glaring at him.

"You. What is your name." He said in a tone that clearly stated he was not to be disobeyed.

Fennir sat up instantly.

"My name is Fennir Greyback, My Lord." He was thankful that he didn't sound as shaken as he felt.

Judging by how one of his red eyes twitched, he guessed that he'd smiled a little at that.

"Do you hear this, Lestrange," He called over at the person that Fennir guessed had been the one that first saw him, "This werewolf has a better sense of respect than you."

A few of the others snickered, one that seemed a little shorter than the others that looked about his size, standing next to one the same height as him in particular.

"Spoken like a true death eater, we could use the support of the werewolves as well..." Fennir could almost see the gears turning in his head, "The werewolf society won't take him in until he's old enough to be of use to them, that'll be when your children go off to Hogwarts. They won't be particularly- no, they'll be flattered even, if one of our own pureblood families takes him in for a year. Decide amongst yourselves who that will be."

He then turned on his heel and walked off.

Fennir noticed that more people were crawling back, covered in black and pointing at him, the boy wearing robes, the _werewolf_ wearing _death eater_ robes.

Finally, someone nudged the person that His Lord had addressed as Lestrange and he stepped forwards muttering something like "It's only one year...that's not so bad" he stopped when he was in front of Fennir. Though he noted that he kept his distance, as if he would suddenly turn into a savage, frothing monster and run at him shrieking.

"You there, Werewolf, come with me. Retreat signal just sparked, order will be here soon."

He muttered this as quickly as he could and then stalked off, whispering darkly while twirling his wand.

Fennir stood up shakily, his legs and arms instantly began aching and his head started swimming from being tied down for so long.

Through his blurry vision, he saw that one of the smaller figures had started towards him, swaggering with over proud confidence and quickly crossing the distance between them.

"Heya, wolf boy. So you'll be living in our house now/ That's good. We need another man around here, what with the Blacks turning up every bleeding day with their ruddy bleeding daughters and with with my poor brother Rod's pathetic deformity he calls his di-"

"RABASTAN! HURRY UP AND BRING THE WEREWOLF OR ELSE WE'LL BE IN TROUBLE!" Rabastan's father snapped, his voice carrying surprisingly far.

"Oh shut up. Bloody hell, who does he think I am, some bloody deaf person."

Fennir looked up at this person and blinked very slowly in effort to process all of this new information properly.

He had never had a friend before.

He reached out his hand and pointed a finger at Rabastan's chest.

"I don't mean to offend you in any way sir, but are all of you this weird?"

The boy snorted and pulled him along as he walked after his father.

"Oh I'm a sir am I know, bloody hell, what am I going to call you then? Seeing as I'm a _sir_ now."c

He then gave a bark of a laugh.

"My name is Fenni-"

"Let's see, wolf? Nah. Wolf is what people call man whores, Wolfy?"

He looked Fennir up and down.

"Yeah, that'll do for now, anyway," he jerked his head in his father's direction who was anxiously pacing up and down with people vanishing into thin air on either side of him, "Much as he is annoying, I don't want my dear father to screech his head off like a hag just yet."

Fennir blinked at him again.

"Why not? I really, really didn't like my father. Are all people like him?"

"I highly doubt it and as for the delicate relationship of my family, I need to kill Rod first, then I get all the money." He said slyly.

Fennir just shrugged and went along with it, allowing him to be yanked and tugged into his new life as a servant, werewolf and then death eater.

Sorry I haven't been writing for a while, but I was on holiday to see my grandparents (who live in a country and there is no wifi connection) and then it was the first week back so yeah, I've been busy. Next chapter will be an Ekans one and I may try out a new writing style. Also, what do you think of young Rabastan and Fennir?


	32. Chapter 28

****Hiya everyone! I know, it's been two months, how disgraceful of me! But a lot of things happened, like me going to see my family that live abroad and have no internet connection an then it was school and a lot of things happened so yeah. But I'm back now and I'll probably be uploading one or two chapters a week depending on the length and if I don't then something has happened but I honestly can't imagine myself ever abandoning Ek and her psychotic little brother who just so happens to be the Dark Lord. Also, the shit is getting real and yes, I am trying out a new writing style in this chapter, let me know what you think and this is a shit load of writing up here. ****

****I bet you everyone will skim it. ****

****Anyway, thank you to the people who supported this story, please review and there will be a lot of toilets in this chapter. ****

**The rain came pelting down. Each droplet like a transparent bullet, writhing in its own haste to reach to floor. Every one with its own internal myriad of lights that it reflected from the sun, which could be found swamped by a cluster of silver lined clouds.**

Ekans stared up at the rain. Each droplet falling, tumbling down at her like a fallen angel, sending a piece of its watery body squirting upwards as it smashed into the pebbles that surrounded the rock on which Ekans was sitting.

She was drenched.

But she didn't feel the cold, she felt numb. But not because she's been out here for too long.

When she had been a child. A child, of course, by rights. It had always rained or snowed over her 'house', that had been because when she had been that age, many of the shops were heated by fire or warming spells that gave off magic induced smoke which mingled with the natural clouds and caused acidic, bitter tasting rain to continually beat down over her family home.

Also, it had snowed, the three times that the unthinkable happened, it had been snowing.

And the rain stirred memories inside her.

Shuddering at the thought of the blood she'd spilled and had seen spilled, she pulled her soaked cloak a little tighter around her.

She raised her head to look up at the sky.

She remembered that at one point, she had known a song about blood raining from the sky. She couldn't remember it though, as it was one of the few songs that Marvolo had not banned here from singing, meaning that she forgot it instantly.

Blood, red.

Strange words to think about when all you see is blue water falling from the sky.

But she thought of them anyway.

And then she thought about Tom.

She smiled sadly at the thought of the brother she hasn't know existed, the brother she hadn't been there for, the one she hasn't been able to comfort and hide the horrors of the world from as best as she could.

Yet he forgave her. He had forgiven her for only giving him the short time she had. And she loved him for it.

Of course, she never told him that to his face. He had complications regarding the four letter word and he has his own... beliefs.

Tom believed that love, respect, hated, even, all had the same root. Fear. He feared her and for that he loved her. Ekans had never pointed out the obvious hole in his theory, she was not cruel enough to do that, besides, did it really matter what he thought about them? They were blood.

And blood was powerful.

Trudging, clumsy footsteps interrupted her thoughts. Skidding on the wet stones towards her.

She tilted her head to the side and watched them come.

It was Draco. With his white blonde hair darkened at the tips, shivering and with chattering teeth.

"H-hiya," he said, his chattering teeth getting in the way of his speech, "L-luna told me you were here. It's lunch now."

He then shivered violently, sending the droplets that had stuck to his cloak flying in all directions.

Ekans raised her eyebrows.

"Very unlike you to come waltzing out into the rain just to tell little old me that it's time for dinner." She slid off the rock and stretched.

Draco blinked at her a few times before he got it.

"It was either this or drink some of Luna's beetroot juice." he muttered.

"I don't see how that's so bad..."

"She forgot to put water in it. All it is is a cup with a piece of raw beetroot stuck in iy."

"On really." Ekans shot him a look and glanced up at the sky again; it was beginning to stop.

"No, no, no I shit you not. Ginny nearly choked to death." He waved his arms about, as if trying to find the right hand gesture to describe a ginger haired girl nearly choking on a vegetable.

"Whatever you say Malfoy." Ekans said carelessly before strolling off to the castle, humming something that sounded strangely familiar to Draco.

He shook his head in disbelief. Personally, he just couldn't see why Pansy liked Ekans so much. He meant that sure, she could be nice and all sometimes but just...just...

She was weird.

In a really, really creepy way.

She didn't find blood, gore and violence disgusting or even slightly nauseous. She talked and sometimes said things as if she was from a different time. It wasn't that that was scary, it was the way she reacted. As if she was adding this to her memory and then never said that or made the same mistake again.

She was top of all their classes, yet she never seemed to study and he knew for a fact that she didn't do her homework (or as Pansy always put it, she did do her homework and just forgot to write it down. None of the teachers except Professor McGonagall believed this) also, why had Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall seemed so... almost afraid of her.

Draco squared his shoulders and walked into the rain.

She must have done something bad. Like, really bad. Murder bad or something.

Though... it could also be something to do with her family line...

He hadn't been able to find the family Gaunt anywhere, and the Malfoy had a lot of contacts, so tghis was immensely surprising.

Well...almost nothing. All they knew was that Ekans' mother had gone to Hogwarts and Ekans was about as tight lipped abbout everything concerning her family as it was possible to be. Whenever the conversation took a twist into what sort of parents you have, where they work and so on, Ekans simply zoned out and looked extremely uninterested.

Anyway. Draco thought as he trudged through the layers of mud that coated every surface, what did Pansy know?

. . .

"Hey Ekans..." Luna asked, jumping among the corridor so that her feet only touched the silvery lines caused by the light filtering through the droplets of rain, "can you remind me why we're doing this again, I think that the Ria Bees have been at me."

"What what."

"Ria bees; new that require the memories of fair haired people to pollinate flowers."

"O-k. You be careful of these Tia Maria be and whatnot. Now as for why we are here, some murders have been happening in the school."

"Hmm."

"Well... I may have a vague idea about where they're hiding." Ekans replied distractedly.

"Hum hum humus." Luna said thoughtfully, stroking her chin in a way that would've looked much more impressive had she had a beard.

"So anyways," Ekans continued as she spun around in a circle before their destination, "I think that this is where they're hiding."

Luna looked up at what Ekans was suggesting.

"The girl's bathroom?" She pondered aloud. Remembering what had happened here.

When she and Ekans had become friends.

"Yep." Ekans turned around and pushed the door open with her back, "I highly doubt that they're actually hiding here but the attack centred around here and at one point I thought that I heard some noises here so, who knows?"

Luna thought about this and pulled her wand out from behind her ear and followed Ekans.

The room was pretty much unchanged; there was the same amount of water on the floor, the stake were still in the same scruffy state, with slightly chipped walls and does, the brass locks still gleamed dully and the nonagon sunk was still in the same condition.

Well, mostly the same.

Ekans made a beeline for it.

She swore under her breath softly as she Steve the jagged edge of where the tile wedged between one of the sinks and the prism they were built around. It was missing.

No wonder nobody she asked to look for it had found it yet; she hasn't been able to look for it because of all her detentions and moniker cane down here because of the ghost and the fight which people refused to quieten down about.

Unless...

Ekans frowned and bit her lip.

What is one of the others had found what she was looking for, and were keeping it from her.

It made sense, snakes were of a suspicious make, for her own safety and for that of others Ekans was vague about her past life. That was unusual for Slytherins, who liked to brag about the purity of their family's bloodline and the deeds that their ancestors had done. It would seem starnge - no, unnatural even, if a Slytherin didn't talk about their family.

Luna, oblivious to all the turmoil that was going on in the inside of her friends head and started peeking under teh tiles and toilets for anything interesting.

She gripped the edge of the sink and forced her blood pressure to slow down so she could think.

Pansy and Draco couldn't have done something like that. They weren't good liars and even if they were, Magnus would've been able to sense what she was looking for if either of them had touched it; the way Magnus could find objects was by the maker of the object's soul getting rubbed of on it, meaning that he could sense a small part of their soul. This, however, wasn't the case with ghosts and there were a number of spells that would prevent this from happening.

She shook her head and released her hold on the sink.

No. It couldn't have been them. That only left Dumbledore and the supposed 'ghost' that lived here.

Sighing she checked the rest of the sink to see if there was anything that might be of interest. All she found was more water, some powdered, crumbling tiles and some dust motes and a used condom that she decided for obvious reasons to leave alone.

Ekans sighed, realising that she would have to search the old fashioned way. Now, she didn't have a problem with that but two teenagers searching through the toilets would look a wee bit suspicious if anyone walked in.

"Hey Ekans..." Luna whistled and Ekans jumped as the younger girl had sneaked up behind her and announced this rather loudly, causing Ekans to nearly go flying head first into a toilet, "I found something and don't worry," She added noticing that Ekans, who had recovered and was now glaring at her, some strange smelling water dribbling from her hair, "I've checked it for ranch wenzils, I didn't find any."

Ekans just g;lowered and rung her black hair out, "What'd you find."

Luna skipped over to an open cubicle and stood near the toilet gesturing for Ekans to follow her.

"Here," She pointed triumphantly downwards and, following her indications, Ekans saw a leather, hard worn shabby looking thin book was floating there, bobbing up and down with the flow of the water, "Ta Daaa!"

"Umm..." Ekans looked critically at the object, wondering how to react. How do you react to a crazy(ish) person showing you a book iknn a toilet when you're the heir of Slytherin and your lickle brother is the Dark Lord? It's one of those things that you can't look up in a book isn't it.

"Weeellll..." Luna leaned over, "Is it important."

"Well gee wilkereez I have no idea let's have look at it." Ekans rolled up her sleeve to reach in and pull it out but fortunately she didn't have to, because Luna plunged her hand in and pulled it out.

Ekans felt like that deserved some applause.

"Don't worry," Luna said after she saw her friend's reaction, "I've seen my grandma naked, nothing scares me anymore."

Ekans decided to drop the subject.

"Anywaay... So how about we look at it, it could be important." Ekans affirmed, sitting down on the driest area of the floor that she could find. Luna handed Ekans the book. It had Diary written on it in rather big letters which left Ekans feeling baffled, she always thought that diaries were supposed to be, you know, secrets so why write on t in such goddamn big letters? Logic. People these days apparently lacked it. Also, what drew her attention to it even more was that on the front cover was written a name that she knew all too well; Tom Marvolo Riddle. Ekans nearly laughed out loud at the little goldmine of black mail that had been found floating in a toilet. Oh wait... Why the fucking hell was the Dark Lord's diary stuffed down a toilet.

"I was about to make a shit related joke about your brother but I decided not to because I just can't be asked," Galacian replied moodily, as he hadn't been let out in a while. Magnus and Jeremiah remained eerily silent, their suffering seeming almost suffocating.

"Ekans..." Luna began worriedly, "You're laughing for no apparent reason, I'm worried."

"Why was this in the toilet." Ekans pondered aloud as her spirits dropped into her shoes while she flicked through it, seeing that there was nothing written in it.

"Why was it down there WHY was It DOWN THERE!" A voice that seemed to be coming from yet another toilet shrieked.

"Umm..." Ekans and Luna exchanged a glance, "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" A face popped out of a U-bend, splashing water all over the floor and offering an explanation as to why nobody came in here, having a ghost pop up in the middle of taking a rather large dump must be embarrassing. "I'm no-one. Just a little floating target for people to throw books at."

The ghost rose out of the U-bend, splashing more water all over the floor.

"Hiya ghost-lady-that-lives-in-a-toilet," Ekans began, waving awkwardly, "If people throw books at you it probably means that they're stupid and can't read. That's why they threw a book at you."

The ghost looked at Ekans and Ekans saw that she had two twin ponytails and hugely embarrassing glasses that some insensitive adult must've forced her to wear.

Then the ghost started laughing, "You are the most stupid person I've ever met! You actually think that! How stupid are you? Really!"

The ghsot then flew around the room and Ekans didn't know if she should be offended because this was coming from a ghost that had died in a toilet and, well, those condoms had looked extremely old...

"Hey,"Luna said defensively, pulling her wand out from behind her ear again as she had replaced it, "That's not a nice thing to say to someone who was trying to make you feel better."

The ghost stopped, stared, and burst into tears, causing all the taps to turn themselves on and all the toilets to simultaneously flush.

"H-How mean of you! You're all just here to stare and laugh and throw books like that one," She pointed at the diary, "aren't you! You're all here to laugh and...and," she gave a huge choking sob, "come in here with boys and laugh at me living in a toilet!"

Ekans raised her eye brows.

"Lady, please take some chill pills or something, it's friggin freaky."

Myrtle (Ekans had heard that this was the ghost's name) bawled again and flew around room.

"Oh marmalade," Luna exclaimed, "why don't you all get about all of that stuff that you were taking about before."

Ekans blinked very slowly and deliberately at Luna.

"Oh yes... Thank you for reminding me," she turned around to talk to the ghost which proved to be rather difficult as they were currently flying around the room in tears, "have you seen a tile anywhere? It had a snake symbol drawn on it. Or have you hear any noises, or ha-"

Myrtle blew her nose loudly and floated to hover in front of Ekans, "I have seen this tile of yours, but I'm not going to tell you where I his it because you're being so rude to me." Then get expression changed, "although... You could do me a favour... And in return I'll tell you where it is."

Ekans sighed. Owing people favours was one thing, owing dead people favours was another.

"What so you want us to do." She said through gritted teeth.

Myrtle looked immensely pleased with herself, "three students have been coming in here; two boys and a girl, I don't like then and I want you to get rid of them."

Ekans raise her eyebrows.

What a coincidence...

But then again, she didn't believe in coincidences.


	33. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Narcissa Malfoy sat in anticipation as she waited for her husband. He should be home any minute, what was taking him so long? He knew how worried she got, especially when the ministry was involved.

She shuddered.

She knew how much stress it put on him, on her dear Lucy, who she loved so much. First the dark lord had branded that horrid thing into his flesh, corroding it and standing out like an ugly ink print on his flawless, pale skin, then he just went off and died, leaving all his followers to go toppling into the brutal aftermath that followed. Her sister being arrested and her family being put under suspicion, right after her baby boy Draco had been born, she was sorry that he would never know his aunt... though maybe it would be better.

Narcissa believed in the Cause, Bellatrix believed in the man who made it.

She heard a faint crack echo through the silence, which was broken only by the ticking of the ornate enchanted clock on the mantelpiece and she frowned, the lines cutting into her face. The house elf had been disappearing off to strange places a lot lately. She would have to have a word with her husband and remind the dratted creature to punish himself again.

Then another crack echoed through the house, sounding much deeper and richer than the other. The elusive smell of stale and fresh magic filled the room. She stood up, pulled up her skirt a little so that she could move faster and half ran through the corridor to the front hall, where her husband normally apparated.

The second she saw him she felt her whole face light up as she walked towards him.

"Lucius! What took you so long! You know how much I worry!"

She threw her arms around him and he smiled as he cradled his wife, his own personal treasure to his chest.

"I'm sorry Cissy," he said to her, his voice muffled by her fair blonde hair, "But I had to pop into Borgin and Bukes to drop off some more of our items that I found lying around in the dungeons. I told that dratted elf to put them out when I visited Diagon Alley with Draco. Apparently it slipped the stupid animal's mind."

Narcissa sighed in annoyance as she held him close. She remembered, when the dark lord had still been at large, how they never knew when it would all come crashing down, how they never knew that this might be their last touch, their last embrace, their last ever moment together.

She shuddered again. Glad that time was over. But she knew in her heart of hearts that it would all happen again someday.

They pulled away, still holding hands.

"Look, Cissy," her husband began, breaking the silence between them, "There is something, that I think I should tell you about..."

His wife swallowed and conjured up some chairs for them to sit down in; she'd known this was coming. After all, she had the mark as well.

"It's the mark," he began gently, unconsciously rubbing the area where it was burned into his flesh, a brand mark, a slave mark, never to come off, "I can feel it... It's not burning, but for some reason, it's shifting. Almost like it's moving."

She nodded she had felt it as well. And now it was her turn to drop the bomb.

"Honey..." She began, unsure as to how she should continue, "I don't know if you felt this... but... while you were at work..."

"What is it Cissy." She could hear the alarm in his voice and felt his hand clasp hers.

"The mark it...it..." she felt her mouth turn dry as she reluctantly pulled her arm away and drew back the sleeve to reveal the cursed thing, "it changed."

There, on her arm, imprinted permanently forever, was the dark mark; a skull suspended with a long, hissing snake slithering from it's jaws. But, now it wasn't alone; there was another, smaller, black snake that had this almost cheeky air around it, with two glittering eyes and it's little forked tongue tasting the air around it in a way that rather reminded you of a young child sicking it's tongue out. The mark had changed.

Narcissa and Lucius both knew what this meant, though neither said it out loud; the dark lord was back, only now, he wasn't alone.

****I am working on the next chapter but it's taking me longer than I expected so i thought that I'd upload this which I've been thinking about for a while. ****


	34. Chapter 30

****Now this is a chapter for you gunsnroses007.n pal of mine and for you Hplover4ever3, You'll get why after you've read this. Also, I'll be doing a death eater chapter next so if anyone has any requests that they would like me to take into account then please review about our or PM me.****

It was getting to the middle of Autumn now. The leaves had all turned brown, gold and red and were tumbling from the trees in waves to cover the ground, freeze over and turn into the soil that nourished the trees that had grown them.

It was a delicate circle; the ashes of the dead turning into the dust that became the soil that the living relied on. Such a delicate circle, yet all living creatures were chained to it or something smart like that, it sounded better when Tom said it.

Ekans and Luna sat outside. Enjoying the last few rays of the sun which would vanish as soon as winter struck.

Pansy had told them that she had used a crystal ball that she had 'borrowed' from Professor. Trelawney to see if it was going to rain, she said that it wasn't and that she could see strange people walking through the mist wearing tight pyjamas. It was at this moment that Ekans decided that Luna, who was looking at the crystal ball with immense interest, should go and get some fresh air.

"Did you get anything nice for Christmas?" She asked dreamily. Staring up at the clouds as she lay on the ground picking flowers and twirling then together to make one of the most elaborate daisy chains Ekans had ever seen.

"Luna," Ekans said cautiously, closing the book that Tom had given her, "it's October, it'll be Halloween soon. Christmas is miles away"

"Oh... Well what are you doing for Christmas." Luna cocked her head to the side, "does that cloud remind you of anyone?"

Ekans glanced up from the rather interesting account of someone who had been tortured into insanity by Gringotts goblins for trying to rob someone's vault and peered into the misty clouds that all seemed to be too thin and wispy for you to make out any shapes.

"What?" Ekans asked.

"Nothing," Luna muttered dreamily, "I thought that I saw someone..."

Ekans put down her book.

"Do you know who?" She asked the blonde girl, her turquoise eyes eyeing her curiously.

"Hmmm... I thought I saw a boy," Luna began, she sounds different from what she normally sounded like, much older and wiser, "he was tall, he was wearing what looked like robes and I think he was holding something..."

Ekans eyes snaked to her bag, in which the diary, which no matter how many spells she put on it still refused to give up it's secrets.

"What do you reckon he was holding?"

"I'm not sure... But I think it was...a book..." Luna looked up at Ekans, who was thoughtfully gazing at the clouds.

Her turquoise eyes swivelled around and fixed onto Luna's bright blue ones.

"Was he holding anything in his other hand?" Ekans says slowly, the wheels in her head turning in rhythm to the whirling thoughts that turned them.

Luna stroked her chin again.

"No. I don't think he was." Luna flopped back down onto the damp grass that they were sitting on, staring up at the sky, the clouds reflected in her eyes, making it seem like she had two mirrors, perfectly reflecting the sky, surrounding her pupils.

"Hey Ekans..." She asked suddenly, not taking her eyes off the scenes in front of her, "what do you reckon the teachers were taking about at breakfast today?"

Ekans blinked in surprise but didn't look up from her book.

"I'm guessing that it was something to do with exams, or it may have been the murders that happened a while ago, could be the ministry's involving itself..." She broke off as she neared a very interesting part about inferi.

Luna rolled over and started kicking her feet.

"I thought that they said something about the dark mark..." Luna said sadly, twirling her radish ear ring, "they were asking professor Snape."

Ekans set down her book.

"He used to be a death eater, didn't he?"

Ekans looked solemnly at her friend. Who shouldn't know such things. But to keep information from someone who needs to know it is like telling someone to fight a war without a weapon. It was stupid and irresponsible and only resulted in hurting them more.

"Yeah. He used to be one. But he's changed now, or else Dumbledore wouldn't have given him the job."

Luna nodded to herself, at if she was nodding to some sort of song that no one else could hear.

A chilly wind suddenly spring up, first gently creeping under your sleeves and collar only to writhe and bite like an animal. A lot of the other students went inside but Ekans and Luna stayed where they were, they liked it here, no one was bothering them and the child, crisp air was good at clearing your head.

Luna shivered a little though and her humming became slightly chittery due to her chartering teeth.

Delicately placing a black bookmark in her book and putting it back in her bag, Ekans sat up next to Luna and crossed her legs.

"I know this one charm, a warming one, it's not much but," she shrugged, using her hands as well as her shoulders, "it'll do."

She raised her wand and drew a circle in the air in front of her, a thin silver line that hovered and floated about 5 inches above the ground. Then, a liquid that looked rather a lot like a melted, translucent mirror dropped from it, flowing together to the ground to form a sort of jar. When it was finished, Ekans flicked her wand up wards and five little blue flames leapt to live inside it.

Luna watched with great interest.

"How did you do that?" She asked eventually, staring down at the flames, "that don't teach that sort of spell in school."

Ekans placed her book, which she had picked up again, down, "they don't?"

Luna shook her head, "nope."

"Well..." Ekans thought hard about this, "they can't teach you everything. You have to figure some things out for yourself."

Luna's looked absolutely baffled by this explanation.

Ekans smiled, "Would you like me to teach you?"

She thought about this for a while, when Luba thought it was almost like she was conferring with someone on the inside of her had, talking to someone. "Yeah, okay."

"Rightie then..." Ekans had never actually taught someone before, other than Sully and Tom at that one time but that was different,"Weeeeeellllllll... first you get your wand,"

Luna brandished her wand in a way that made her look like she was about to gouge out someone's eyeball.

"Then you sorta stuck it in teh jar."

Luna, who couldn't find a jar (let alone a teh one) stuck her wand in one of the cups that she used to give beetroot juice out to people.

"Then you think about fire."

Luna looked at her, "Fire? you mean there's no word or anything like that? so it's wandless magic?"

Ekans bit the inside of her lip, "It's a hard thing to explain, but, when you get right down to it, magic is like music and like writing, you form an idea in your head, beautiful or terrifying, they your heart finds the right words, the right gestures, the right notes to turn it into an object; just like magic. So when I say think about fire, I mean think about warmth, think about the happy, fleeting moments that match the flickering movement of the flames and try to find the right word, the right feeling to describe that."

Luna looked at her for a while. Then she put her wand down, put her hands together, and started clapping.

"That was almost as good as catching a blimpy with your hair." Lungs said solemnly.

Ekans honestly didn't know what to say to this...

"Well gee wilkereez..." she fiddled with her collar. This wasn't what normally happened, normally people went running from her screaming or just walked on very quickly trying not to make eye contact when she talked about her magic, "go on, try it."

Limbs nodes and was a about to try again when Ekans noticed a bushy haired girl striding her way.

She looked up.

"Good day fellow human being," Ekans mused quietly at the inside joke, "nice weather we're having."

"Nice?" Hermione reiterated, looking distastefully at the sky, "it's almost as gross as you."

"How complementary you are today."

"Shut the fuck up, Gaunt. I see you don't have anyone to beat up today. What the hell did you so that for anyway? Beating people up when you're hardly perfect, you're obviously hiding something, being such a bitch to other people."

Ekans just ignored her rant quietly. She had enough to deal with already. She hadn't transformed for ages and the side effects were beginning to take effect.

"Can you please just leave me alone." Ekans snarled, lacking the energy to form a reply.

Hermione tilted her head back and snorted.

"I honestly don't know who you think you are, ordering me about when it's obvious that the hell you're going to is as bright red as Ron's hair."

"How poetic, include that in your love letter."

Hermione's brown eyes narrowed, then resumed their usual shape.

"Oh, Hello there Professor Filch, how truly wonderful it is to see you, I was just hoping for some mature, educated help with this -"

"I'm NOT a PROFFESSSOR." Filch said stiffly, his skeletal cat meowing in accompaniment to his words.

Ekans smirked. Served the damn bitch right...

"Oh, I'm sorry, I guess that with your supreme wit I must have mixed you up with a professor of the highest learned standar-"

"Your books," he said coldly, removing one arm from around his cat and holding it out, "Give them to me; they're overdue."

Hermione looked personally offended and held her bag of books that she always carried around even tighter to her chest, "Excuse me sir, I borrowed these books from the school library just today, I honestly don't see why on earth I should return them n-"

"If you don't hand the books over right now or else you will be given a detention. A lot of detentions." He then narrowed his eyes and smiled evilly, "And I'm sure that mummy and daddy muggle don't want to hear about their little Hermione getting a detention."

At this Hermione simply exploded, flinging her precious little book bag down at Ekans' feet, she dashed up to him and instantly whipped out her wand and pointed it at him, her hand shaking slightly and even her hair seemed to be twitching with rage.

"How dare you insult my family like that! Even if you aren't a teacher, you have no right to slander my family!"

_"OOooooooOooOooOOOoOoOoOoOoOoOoooooOOoOohhh..." _Galacian slowly let out, _"I thought that things were getting pretty boring around here. I'll get the popcorn~."_

"Oh really.." He leaned forwards and hissed at her, Ekans tried not to think about how stinky his breath had to be, "And honestly don't see what gives yo the right to use magic."

Hermione gasped and, as Ekans now noticed, her friends who had been standing a distance off now ran and attempted to keep her from filling his skinny arse with all the unforgivable curses there are in this world.

"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT! YOU HORRIBLE NASTY PERSON," Ekans doubted that Hermione understood fully what she was saying and just how much trouble she was in, "JUST BEACUSE YOU WERE BORN INTO A WIZARDING FAMILY YOU IMMEDIATELY THINK THAT MAKES YOU BETTER THAN ME! YOU SQUIB!"

At this the whole world seemed to freeze and everything else seemed to happen slowly, as if they had all been flung into a thick liquid; Ron and Harry broke away from her, looking at her in horror, Hermione herself covered her hands with her mouth, as if she could push the words that she'd just said back into her mouth, where they couldn't hurt anyone, Luna looked at Hermione, her blue eyes wide with wonder, Filch himself clutched his skeletal cat to his chest so hard that Ekans later wondered how it hadn't snapped in half yet.

But she didn't have any time to do that then.

Hermione fell over onto the hardened soil as Ekans knocked into her.

Barely aware of what she was doing, Ekans brought the heel of her hand down into the centre of Hermione's face, hearing the other girl gasp as the bone broke and the dislodged bone crushed against the skin painfully, she then brought her hand back, scrunched it into a fist and slammed it into her face repeatedly.

Hermione's hands clawed the air for her, to grab onto some part of Ekans and yank the other girl off her.

Ekans then grabbed Hermione by her hair, yanked her up off the ground and kneed her in the stomach with her bony knee, connecting with one of her ribs.

She released the other girl who staggered back, her only recognisable feature her bushy hair, as her face and Gryffindor tie were covered with blood.

It was around this time that something clicked in Ekans' mind and she realised that they had attracted a huge crowd which was chanting for them to fight. As it generally was with teenagers.

Hermione rubbed some of the blood and tears from her face and tried to draw her wand but couldn't as Ekans kicked it out of her hand, grabbed it and head butted her no harm was done.

She then kicked out Hermione's feet out from beneath her and was about to break a couple of bones when something grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms behind her back.

Judging by the terrified looks on many students' faces, it was a teacher. Ekans was hit by the smell of smoke, chemicals and other strange things, then a voice hissed inside her ear, "I'm going to get your expelled for this."

But Ekans wasn't having it.

"GET YOUR GREASY HANDS OFF ME! YOU SLIMEY BITCH!"

She then wrenched free from his grip and resumed violently attacking the other student.

Snape was absolutely shocked. No student has ever dared to do such a thing in front of a teacher. How dare she. And Dumbledore had better expel her as soon as possible, she was a danger to others, say what you want.

Filch just stood there for what seemed like an age. How had...how had she found out about that? Had someone told her?

Then he remembered the Potter boy and the kwikspell letter.

He felt a sudden burning rush of hatred for these children, who had shoved their noses into his business far too deeply for his liking.

"That enough, Gaunt," he barked at the black haired child, "she'll get what she deserves in due time."

Ekans looked at him for a long time, brown eyes met turquoise ones and slowly, she raised her hand, angled it so the her blood splattered fingers weren't touching herself and slowly wiped away a smear of blood that had found it's way onto her face.

She stood up, turned her back on Hermione and filch and walked towards Snape.

"Would you like me to follow you to your office, or would you like to drag me kicking and screaming?"

He didn't reply. Instead, he grabbed her in a way that he had carefully orchestrated to hurt her the most; he had gripped her shoulder, where the skin was thin and delicate and he had caught a large chunk of hair in his grip, causing it to be pulled. Because you know, he loved kiddies so much.

That was for Ekans found herself being dragged down the steps to the dungeons, into Snape's office. Warmed only by what she seen; which was Luna politely helping Hermione up only to push her straight back down again.

They burst into the office and Ekans prepared herself for an ear bashing.

"I AM APPALLED! APPALLED AND DISGUSTED AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE! YOU HAVE FLUNG YOURSELF UPON ANOTHER STUDENT FOR THE SECOND TIME NOW! YOU COULD HAVE CAUSED HER PERMANENT HARM," I hope so, Ekans thought to herself glumly, "YOU ARE MOST CERTAINLY GOING TO BE EXPELLED! I WON'T BE SUPRISED IF DUMBLEDORE HIMSELF DOESN'T-"

He was broken off by the dark, dingy fireplace in the corner of the room cracking into life with purple flame that turned green towards the tips.

He whipped round and glared at them.

Slowly, as if his glare had an effect on them, they faded away to firm a piece out passband, tied up with a people ribbon.

He smirked

"I'm guessing that is the now to send you packing your bags" he then strode up to the fireplace to retrieve it.

"I doubt it, I highly doubt it." Ekans muttered darkly at sub as she was certain he wouldn't be able to hear her.

"Let's see what the headmaster had to say," he beings as he unravelled it and Ekans felt incredibly sorry for him, as it was obvious that he would be disappointed, "I, headmaster Albus Dumbledore of Hogwarts wish to speak to Ekans Gaunt alone in a classroom of her cho- WHAT?"

He glared down at the piece of paper as if it had personally offended him, threw it down onto the desk which caused a bottle to tip and empty itself out onto the floor and shrieked at Ekans to get out of his sight.

She didn't need telling twice.

Moodily, she began the short trek down to the dungeons, hoping that she would avoid all the people she wanted to avoid, dreading facing the common room, which would be full of the pointed and accusing glare of the others and sharp tongues that were made to spread rumours, she speed only to glance at a clock that had been worked into the flagstone wall on one corridor.

Crikey.

He'd been yelling at her for over 2 hours, that and she had chosen to ship the feast and home round the long way, using narrow passage that she could barely squeeze through but the effort distracted her from the thoughts racing through her head; she was going to talk to Dumbledore.

This was a perfect chance to get revenge.

Her heart hammered to it's own sick rhythm as she stored and stared at the clock, the hands sniffing away the time people had left, second by second minute by minute. Images of her torturing Dumbledore flew through her mind. And in nine of them was she alone.

She had to tell Tom about this.

But how?

She stood there, pondering the answer to this question for what seemed like an age until she shrugged and decided to goo and so something more worthy of her time than standing around looking at a clock.

As she turned round the corner, she ran into Crabbe and Goyle, who were shuffling along, clutching parts of their body and muttering darkly.

"My God, can you believe he actually said that! I mean, I know that Malfoy's a git and all but real- hi Ekans!"

If Ekans hadn't been so interested as to why on earth those two thickos were having that conversation, she would've definitely laughed at their expressions. They looked they'd seen a ghost.

If only they knew how right they were.

"Helllooooooo there little kiddies ~" Ekans purred, waving her fingers at them in a disturbing manner.

They both looked like they were about to shit themselves.

Ekans giggled but stopped when her laughter was interrupted by three, huge throaty coughs which she only just managed to cover with her hand.

"Ummm..." Crabbe, or whoever the hell he was as his hair was beginning to turn suspiciously orangey, "we-we kinda need to hey somewhere... Umm."

"We need to hand in an assignment for Draco." The other one, Goyle who was unconsciously swinging like he needed glasses really badly.

"Oh yeah, that why we need to hurry." The other one days in a relieved voice.

"So umm... Bye."

They ran off, keeping as much distance as they could from Ekans.

She watched them and then chucked to herself.

"Hey Jerry..." She called.

_"Wha-what." _The mouse replied shakily, as Ekans didn't normally address her prsonally unless she was planning something nasty.

"Do you reckon we should transform our that it'll be to hard on us?"

_"I-I don't know. You're the boss."_

_"Excuse me!"_ Galacian snapped, _"bitch, you forgetting someone!"_

Ekans rolled her eyes as she transformed, grimacing slightly at the pain it brought.

Soon after, the place where a young, perhaps a little unhealthy looking girl had been standing there was now a small black mouse which immediately scampered to the wall and disappeared into a crack.

Ekans, or rather, Jeremiah, followed the two boys by the sound of their loud, clumpy mismatched footsteps and by their smell which was changing rapidly.

They they turned suddenly and went down the corridor that led to the Girl's bathroom.

_"Oooh la la!"_ Glacian sang to himself, loud enough for everyone to hear him.

_"I suppose that it does other an explanation as to what the origin of the condoms was."_ Magnus said coolly.

Ekans rolled her eyes at the two of them and continued after them through the wall.

She squeezed herself into a gap between two cubicles and watched intently as to what was going to happen.

"Geez Harry..." Crabbe, whose hair was now completely orange and who had lost about 5 pounds during that short walk said to Goyle, whose hair had turned messy and black with a small red scar beginning to poke itself out from under his hair, "When we ran into Ekans there..." He shuddered, "she scares the crap out of me...I mean even for someone that hangs around Malfoy she's scary. And she always looks pissed as hell, like she's going to murder someone."

Ekans felt extremely flattered at all these things and watched with huge interest as one of them, Harry Potter she now realised, waddled up to a cubicle in his far-too-large Slytherin robes which slightly resembled elephant skin and politely knocked.

"Umm...Hermione?" He asked doubtfully, "are you still in there? Are you okay and-"

"I'm fine I'm fine it's just..." the door of the cubicle swung open efore she had a cgance to finish her sentence and there, standing in front of them, was Hermione, covered in grey cat fur with two ridiculously large ears and a uncomfortably long tail, sniffling and crying, "it wasn't Vamilda's hair."

Jeremiah let out a loud squeak and Galacian collapsed onto the floor of Ekans' mind and started rolling around having a laughing fit. _"OH MY FUCKING GOD! DID YOU SEE HER FUCKING FACE! IT WAS SO FUCKING DUMB! OH MY GOD I THINK I'M GOING TO PISS MYSELF!" _

_"How distasteful..." _Magnus muttered, wrinkling his snout up at the wolf.

Ekans was much more worried about the fact that Hermione, who was now half cat, had snapped her head up to look in their direction as soon as she heard the sound of Jeremiah's squeak.

"Shit." Ekansd thought o herself as Hermione- or cat hermione whatever the hell had happened to her- leapt in their direction.

Jeremiah panicked and, momentarily forgetting the huge list of advantages that she had over the girl/cat thingy, darted across the room, almost smashing a hole through the door with the speed she was going.

As soon as they 'slipped' outside, Jeremiah nearly ran head first into someone's foot. Ekans was surprised when they didn't look up, then she realised that this person wasn't the only one here-in fact, the whole corridor that just moments ago had been peaceful and empty was now full of screaming, muttering chattering students and teachers attempting to keep everyone under control.

Oh dear...

Ekans tried to slink between people's feet to get to the back so she could run away but, thanks to some psychotic child's kick she found herself flying through the forest of feet to the front.

She certainly wasn't having a very good day.

Ekans was considering putting today on her list of 'things I want to sue God about when I die' but her thought process was interrupted by Jeremiah screaming her head off because she could smell a cat.

"A cat? Wtf?" Ekans edged closer to the centre of the crowd, ignoring the mouse's pleas until she was almost at the centre.

Then, she saw what all the fuss was about; there was a huge pool of water all over the floor and next to it, on the wall, written in huge capital letters were the words,

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED, ENEMIES OFN THE HEIR, BEWARE!

Dramatic.

Next to it, hanging be her limp tail, yellow eyes blankly staring at the air in front of her, was Mrs. Norris.

It seemed like Filch was having a pretty shit day as well.

****IT'S FINALLY DONE! WOOP WOOP! Now following the pattern, the next chapter will be a death eater one and i like I said before, I'm open to any request as there are so many death eaters and just characters in general that I want to give a bit of a backstory for but I don't know which ones people will enjoy the most. ****


	35. Chapter 31-Bella's Story

****This is another one of those memory chapters and this is a little darker than the others but I hope that it offers an explanation for a lot of things that I think may have happened also, I have taken what you've said into account and I will definitely add Batty Barty (this is my nickname for him) into the story. And this may be the last Bellatrix chapter that I do, I think I'll focus on the death eaters that shall be important in the story as well as other side characters such as Pansy.****

Chapter 31-Bella's story

She screamed again. It seemed to make the air around it vibrate, turning it almost red, red like the blood she was to spill.

"HELP!" But they never came, when she had needed them most; her sister, her father, her mother, they hadn't come when she had called for them that night, "HELP ME! PLEASE!"

She pounded on the door of the cellar, clawed and scratched at it until her hands bled and her fingers were practically skinless. Screaming until she could feel her lungs bleeding. But nobody came. And he never stopped.

She hated him.

And no matter what he did. she would never forgive him. Never. Never. Never. Never. NEVER.

He lumbered towards her, she could still remember how it had been that he came towards her, drunken, out of control, nothing but a mere animal that called itself a wizard-not even a wizard, he dared call himself a man.

She could smell the alcohol on his breath as he groped through the darkness for her, his hot breath burning her, his very touch horrible, unnatural and painful.

She hadn't forgotten. How could you forget something like that? How could you forget the night you lost your freedom?

She had never felt so afraid or alone as she had then. On that dark, lonely night in the cellar, with the bitter knife of her parents' betrayal still twisting in her side and with this man, this creature that she had been forced to tie herself to.

He slammed his body into hers pushing her up against the wall, her heart hammered in her heart like a bird that was being forced into a cage.

"Oh God please no..." she whispered almost silently, silent, silver tears trickling down her face.

He pushed up her dress and the night of pain began.

She had fought him. Of course she had. She was a Black and she didn't give up. Not even when her hands and legs were red with her own blood, not even when she heard her sister, finally realising what was going on scream her name, not even when the door opened and she saw her fathers face, pale with shock and anger, standing out like a pale star next to her mothers, which glowed with happiness at seeing her work, finally completed.

Everything that came after that was nothing. She had been numb, Numb with pain and fear from the sudden, shuddering fall that she'd taken as she lost control and became a puppet. Another neat little pureblood princess who was really just a parrot in a dress. it had all been, "Oh Cissy dear, you don't want what happened to Bella to happen to you do you?" and it stung. That was all she felt as she was numb. The sharp pricks of insults and remarks, like tiny pins being stabbed into a crystal ball.

But that hadn't lasted.

Of course it hadn't.

That was the only thing that had saved her. Saved her from the pain, from her husband's wand and hands, from her family's shame, from her own weakness, from herself.

It had started out as a simple little parade. A little meeting with all the other purebloods, a little get together to show off your wife and wealth. Nothing much.

But that was when the cause had been on the rise. And many purebloods had swarmed to join his ranks. Her lord's ranks. To fight along him.

And she didn't know why. But fro some reason. She admired that man, who lived knowing that there were so many that hated him, who would happily kill him were they given the chance and yet he carried on. He remained faithful to his own beliefs and carried on.

It had been then that she looked at the world she lived in; she'd seen many things, all purebloods did, and why not? Why shouldn't puebloods get given what they deserved? They were the roots of wizarding society, it was thanks to them that this gift, that the power to do magic hadn't faded away. So why not? Why was she any different fro her husband? HOW was she any weaker than him? She had seen as much violence and gore as he had. She had watched as many people die as he had. Not even was she equal to him. She could even be BETTER than him if she tried hard enough. She had graduated Hogwarts with 'O's for each subject. She had mastered all the unforgivables and all the necessary charms. She was quick on her feet and ever since THAT night, she had never let her guard down.

It had been then that the numbness faded a little.

She began training instantly.

When her husband was 'out on business', though she knew that because he returned drunk and covered in lipstick in certain places that this was hardly the case, she trained. She practised every curse she knew, from the simple bogey hex to the Killing Curse until she could barely stand and could almost feel her energy being sucked out of her with each wave of her wand. It had been so tempting to give up. All she needed to do was put her wand away and spread her legs for her husband every now and then to get food and a roof over her head.

But she hadn't given up.

She had kept on training. And training and training and training until her head no longer spun, until she no longer felt nausea at the sight of blood, she had made herself stronger.

Her husband was the first to know. She didn't let him do what he liked with her any more, she never pulled a wand on him, she had been to weak at that point to curse him, but slowly, he began to back off and she felt like a small portion of control was falling back into her grasp.

Then the night had come.

And the dark lord, being the dark lord, invited himself along to the gathering of purebloods. Mostly it was a chance to parade around your wife, heirs and riches in front of the others and for the dark lord to make alliances and gain a few new recruits.

Just the perfect opportunity...

She'd been invited; House Lestrange was an important, rich family home where compassion was not in fashion and there were already firm supports of the Dark Lord there.

In fact, it had been thanks to one of his supporters; Rabastan or Stan as his family called him. That she was who she was now. He had walked in on her practising once and, instead of taking it for what anyone else would have; as an unnatural occurrence, a woman learning curses, he had helped her and taught her. He had told her what the Dark Lord looked for in a death eater, how high the bar was set and how she would have to raise herself even higher because she was a woman.

She had always thought that this was because he hated his brother, who had everything he didn't and that he just wanted to hep her out of spite, knowing that it would humiliate him to see that his pretty little pureblood princess had become a death eater without him knowing it, then she thought that he believed in the cause and wanted the best for his Lord and their forces. Then it no longer mattered why he (and occasionally, Fenir who he seemed to have a long friendship with) helped her. Because she was stronger and it was her time to fight like the female warrior that she'd been named after.

She hadn't worn a 'pretty little frilly' dress that hid too much and didn't let her move freely, she wore her own gown. A sleek, black dress that although did show much more skin than was believed modest but then again, where had the people that judged her been on THAT night. Exactly. Nowhere. She why should she give a fuck about what they thought?

Of course, her 'sweet' husband would never let her 'shame' herself by wearing something like that, so she had worn a long, thick black cloak which had intricate designs woven into it with enchanted silk that glimmered like black blood to cover her dress and wand.

He'd pestered her for a while but she'd held firm. She'd given in to him once. And it was not an experience she would like to repeat.

When they'd arrived and she had seen the cold, hard glares of the other purebloods, she just hasn't paid then any attention, she had made her courtesies and politely accepted a good of elf wine to ease the butterflies in her stomach but then she had stood, waiting for it to begin.

She remembered every single word he'd said. His cold, clear voice making every word shape you into what he wanted, every sentence building a cage around you.

He'd stood up and began.

His words painted a picture of the new world, the one he was trying to build. How he would not stop to rebuild this one, not instead he'd burn it down and from its ashes he's make his world. Free of mudbloods, half breeds and other filth that dared to call itself magical.

She had listened in fascination to his words. She wanted a world like that. She wanted it, so why shouldn't she fight for it as well?

He finished his speech, rounding it off very nicely by casually starring that he needed recruits.

As it normally was with parties, people danced and talked and gossiped and ate and danced and talked and ate and gossiped and danced again but she was a Black, and above that she was a pureblood, she was above such things.

So instead of mingling and giggling like some high schoolgirl, she sliced through the crowds of dancers to talk to Her Lord. To ask him for a place in the new world.

He'd been standing by the wall. Alone. And though if it was any other person it would've looked like he was being a wallflower, but with him it was more like he was waiting, watching everyone with his red tinted eyes that had a sort of controlled hunger t them if there was such a thing.

She had gulped down the last of her wine to try and drown the sea of unease that was churning inside her and thrust it at a passing waiter. She could turn back now. It wasn't too late...was it?

If she turned back, then would she be able to face Stan's saddened face, would she be able to face her husband, knowing that she had been inches way from becoming his equal, even his superior, and most of all, would she be able to meet her eyes in the mirror? Knowing that she was a coward.

She gritted her teeth and marched towards him.

He had acknowledged her by raising one of his eyebrows. She received a few odd stares and mutters flickered on and off in the room. It must look strange, a married woman approaching a man at a party without being shepherded over there by her husband. Oh well. Let them do whatever the fuck they wanted. They couldn't stop her.

"Good evening to you, Mrs. Lestrange." He raised his glass at her a little, the twisted wine glass reflecting the light onto his pale skin which only made his red eyes and dark hair stand out more. Of course, he was reminding her that she was married. He was a fairly attractive man after all, women must approach him all the time. She had the same problems only with men.

She inhaled sharply, hoping that she wouldn't sound as desperate or shattered as she felt, "I wish," she said slowly, not breaking eye contact, black eyes boring into red ones, "to become a death eater."

The second she said these words, it was as if she had triggered since duty of spell, erupted of quiet spread from her and before a minute had passed, the whole hall had fallen deathly silent.

"You wish," he repeated slowly, she was glad, he was taking her seriously, "to join my ranks and become a death eater?"

She nodded, a lock of her black hair falling out of her half drawn back hood to rest on her cheek.

She heard some more mutters and a few stifled laughs. They all believed that she was going to disgrace herself.

"Why, may I ask, do you wish to join my forces?" He questioned her politely.

"I wish for there to be a world without mudbloods and filth. I see no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to fight for it like anyone else."

There were a few snickers and catcalls. She could almost feel Rodolphus' eyes glaring at her.

"I see." He sipped the rest of his wine and with a slight movement of his hand, it turned into light grey smoke which took on the shape of a serpent before fading away into the air, "In that case, I see no reason why I should give you the same examination that I gave your husband."

And before she knew it, his wand was in his hand, she hadn't even seen him draw it, and he slashed at the air, sending a disarming charm flying towards her. She quickly whipped out her own wand, knowing that something along the lines of this would happen and blocked it. As she'd been caught unaware, his spell sent her flying backwards a little but she landed lightly on her feet, agile as a cat and very much unscathed.

With her other hand, still keeping a firm eye on his every movement, she undid the clasp on her cloak and tossed it aside, as if she were shedding a skin. People gasped in shock at what she was wearing but she didn't care, they had no power over her.

He waited a while, mentally measuring and sizing her up, silently plotting, before flicking his wrist and sending another curse flying at her.

She blocked it again by flicking her wand upwards and sent her own spell flying at him, wasting no time between the two.

Surprise flicked across his collected features as he blocked it by conjuring up a snake which wrapped around it and stopped it. His next one was a spell that Stan had told her about, it was a spell to see if you were squeamish, it consisted of what looked like a normal, red spell like an Expelliarmus which exploded once you blocked it. What it did was send blood flying all around you, coating you in the life juice of others, it caught many off guard and he would use that pause in their reactions to finish them off. Sneaky.

She watched as droplets of the red liquid flew through the air towards her, she was fascinated. They turned over each other like dancers and when they hit the floor, tainting it with another's life she found herself wanting more. She wanted to spill blood. She wanted to stain her soul and the ground with it.

She flicked out her tongue to lick at one of the drops and then sent another curse flying at him, a crucio. He only just blocked it in time.

Then things got serious.

Spells sent by the two duelers flashed through the air, lighting up the wall as they shot by them, smashing into the stair case and the bystanders when they were deflected. Bella didn't know how long they fought each other, it could've been hours or minutes or maybe even days, she wouldn't have known, it all blurred and mixed together. All that she remembered was her lord holding up both of his hands in mock surrender and calling it a draw.

It had happened.

She, Bellatrix Black, had become a death eater. The first ever female death eater to exist.

It was then, when she received the mark a few nights later, when she went on her first raid and killed her first victim, when she shot her first curse at her god damned husband, his screams of agony so much more appealing and musical than his moans, that she realised that Bella Black was dead.

Bella Black, the sweet girl who was maybe a little too headstrong for her own good, who liked to talk with her sisters and read, was dead. And in her place, was Bellatrix Lestrange. A female warrior.

**Fun fact for you; I read on line that Bellatrix is Latin for female warrior. **


	36. this is not a chapter but you may laugh

**Hello everyone and I am very sorry to say this is not a chapter, unfortunately. There is a huge list as to why I haven't had any time to do any writing recently but I am DETERMINED and yeah, shit isn't gonna stop me! **

**Ekans: **Ha ha sure it won't.

**Me: **OMFG REALLY?! Ekans? This was just going to be a nice, normal little update but NOOOOOooooooOOOOO...you just had to come and fuck it up.

**Tom: **DON'T YOU DARE SAY SUCH NASTY THINGS TO MY SISTER!

**Me: **I BELIEVE IN FREEDOM OF SPEECH! I'LL SAY WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT TO YOUR BIG SISTER!

**Snape: **STOP YELLING FOR CHRIST'S SAKE I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!

**Me: **WE'RE NOT YELLING WE'RE EXPRESSING OURSELVES!

**Marvolo: **Jesus you'reso loud that I can hear you all the way up in wizard heaven!

**Ekans:** Marv you aren't dead!

**Marv:** sorry Ek I'm still dead. Just mash Dumbles up for me okay?

**Ekans:** *sniff* ok.

**Marv:** that's my girl.

*disappears into wizard heaven*

**Snape:** who was that violence promoting guy just then?

**Tom:** OH. MY. GOD. SNAPE! READ THE FUCKING FANFIC!

**Me:** enough with breaking the fourth wall! Tell them about the new update schedule!

**Tom:** DO I LOOK LIKE YOUR SERVANT!

**Ekans:** I'll do it. Just don't kill any more of my family.

**Tom:** YOU TRAITOR POTATOR EKANS!

**Ekans**: Miss. Wolfdawn would like to say that she hopes to update the next chapter on either Thursday or Wednesday. She will continue to post the chapters on Wednesdays and Thursdays and she also hopes to post the additional (meaning death eater) chapters in the time between as she has been doing.

**Me:** thank you great creation of mine, now all of you toddle into the forgetful abyss of my mind.

**Ekans:** bye bye guys ; )

**Tom:** I hate you all you fat sluts.

**Ekans:** please forgive my brother, he has communication problems.


	37. Chapter 32

**Woop wool it's finally ddone! I'll be trying outout a new idea for the next one and b there will be a serious chapter followed by what will probably be some comic relief at its red nose day tomorrow. **

Chapter 34

Severus hated sleeping. Hated the vulnerability it brought, hated how so many people deemed it neccesary, hated how he himself had to sleep and most of all, he hated the dreams it brought. The dreams about her.

In his dreams she was always alive. Alive and well. Alive, well and happy, shining as beautifully as the flower she had been named after. Alive, well and never his. As she had been in life.

_Lily_.

He always reached out to her, tried to grasp some part of the purity she was made out of, to try and keep a part of her with him, to somehow take a hold of the impossible and somehow chain her soul to earth. To keep a part of her with him. To catch a moon been in his hand.

_Lily..._

But she always walked on past him, as if he was as much a ghost, living in the past, as he felt he was.

_Lily... Evans..._

She would always walk on past him, her face alight and her green eyes that her son had stolen glowing with love. And HE would always be there. Be there to welcome and embrace her, be there to give her a happy sun filled life.

_Lily potter._

Only Severus had been able to see how bad he was for her. What a leech he was, latching onto her and greedily lapping at the love she gave him. He had taken root inside her like an infection and Severus was sure that it was as much James Potter's fault that the woman he loved was dead as it was his own.

_Lily._

Lily.

Lily.

LILY!

But she still walked on towards him. She still stayed by his side.

And as the dream faded, that was the last thing he saw; the two of them standing together.

It faded. Faded away as she had until he was the only one left. A living ghost, whispering her name in dark.

It was still dark when he awoke. His black curtains which were pulled shut only adding to the effect. Turning the few beams that reached his room into ghostlike shadows.

He sat up and not for the first time felt immensely thankful for the muffling spells and enchantments he had placed over his room and the corridors nearby, for he had a tendency to scream her name while he slept.

Shrugging his cloak on, he went for a walk around the school, hoping to walk it off.

It had been so long.

As he left, he didn't know what saddened him more, the fact that he still hadn't gotten over a woman who had not only chosen another man over him but had been dead for 12 years or that on his dreams, she looked more alive than he did.

He wasn't the only one who was haunted by the past.

The dark shadows on the already dark walls had long since blackened. Making it impossible to determine whether or not the walls had even been the dark, emerald green they were. A pair of sad, turqoise eyes trailed from the walls to stare at the drapes on the bed; also green, though softer due to the dyed velvet. The whole room was black and green. The only sounds that of people peacefully snoring away. Occasionally muttering something. The only worries they had were exams, boys and parents. Not having to worry about dying, about your little brother who just so happens to be the dark lord, not having to worry that one day your already fragile sanity would snap in half, not having to worry about whether or not they would die.

And they expected people to feel sorry for them.

It had been almost a century before someone felt sorry for her. And even longer before someone knew, before someone knew about all those nights she spent alone, in the dark, letting herself show the horrible, aching emptiness she felt inside, hoping that mother's new boyfriend wouldn't go looking for her to give her another black eye.

She sighed, closing her eyes, which looked hollow due to the almost black dark circles surrounding them, and bit down into her lip as she remade the mask she called her face.

She'd had the dream again.

The butterfly one.

Once, a long time ago, when Ekans had been a child mentally as well as physically, her sister had woken her up at night and told her that she was going to die. She'd said it so casually, as if she was asking for you to pass the milk. Not that they ever had any. So she'd sat up, pulled her close and promised her that she'd protect her, that she would stand up for her no matter what, even if she was standing alone. She'd believed in her own words then. But her sister had stopped her. When she asked why, Sully had looked at her, no childish stupidity or dullness in her eyes, and told her that she was a night butterfly. So she shouldn't say that, because it would hurt her afterwards.

She didn't understand whart she meant until later. Many, many, many years later. When everyone was dead and she walked alone, a silent, mourning ghost through the streets that had once been alleys.

There is a special type of moth, the Luna Moth, that only lives for one day. It is beautiful, with the intricate patterns on it's wings, the musty, mist like haze that surrounds it, the light that it seems to give off. But it is beautiful in the same way a pheonix is, when it burns the brightest; for the last time.

She shuddered, as if she could shake off the ghost like fingers of the sibling she could've saved creeping through the floor to claw at her.

Anyway, it was past midnight, time for her detention.

_"That's right, get your arse moving."_ A certain creature growled on the inside of her head.

By now Autumn had long since passed.

There had been a rather nice Halloween prank that someone played on Ekans (probably Hermione, who was currently making a slow but steady recovery in the hospital wing) which her flicking little bits of water onto Ekans while making coughing noises. It had got extremely annoying after Hermione got water on her books so she threw the girl's dinner out of the window.

The usual detention process ensured and as a result Ekans had very little free time left, but Pansy kept her updated on all that was going on.

Mostly, no atacks had happened which left majority of the school felling immensely relieved and Ekans severly unentertained.

Dumbledore had still been away on 'buisness' and the muttering of the teachers were growing louder. Ekans has been able to gather from gossip fed to her by other girls and from things she had actually overheard that the dark mark on Snape's arm had indeed moved, changed. She didn't know how or why or if her brother was pulling the strings behind this but it was something she'd deemed worthy of her attention. And another worry was gnawing at her mind; Dumbledore. She had a meeting with him today- well, tonight was more appropriate- and she had been up for the past few nights, forming a strategy and trying to contact her brother. Owls were out of question, fireplace was too risky and as he was a better wizard than her, he hid their house well and she wasn't going to even attempt to find it.

So she would face this challenge as she had faced many before, alone.

Ha ha no.

She'd sent him a message using a spell he'd taught her. It was an enchantment that you place upon your letters, it makes then undetectable and sends it in a quarter of a second. Convinient.

Slipping on her long, ragged black coat that made her the victim of many dementor jokes among the ohers and trudged down the stairs leading to the common room.

Then she froze.

Wtf?

"So explain to me again," Ekans said very slowly, looking from one intimidated acquaintance to the other, "what the hell are you two doing wandering around at 12 at night?"

The said people looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Well..." Draco began, shifting uncomfortable from one foot to the other under her piercing glare, "we have detentions."

"So?" Ekans grumbled, "there's no need for you to stand around like a pair of bloody ducks."

"Okay, A) ducks don't stand around in common rooms at 12 o clock, B) I have no second point and C) you being all pessimistic isn't going to change the fact that we both have detentions." Draco gave her a look after finishing his miniature speech.

Ekans just decided to go with the flow, "alright alright, you two have detentions, how remarkable, same here. Why?"

"Well..."the blonde haired boy began, " you know how professor Lockhart told everyone that since it's Christmas we should do something 'loving' and 'gallant'-"

_"Gallant? Flipping hell! That bitch's brain must be as fake as his wig!"_ Galacian roared.

_"Please shut up Gal."_ Magnus brooded quietly, not wanting to be dragged into another debate.

"-and then he handed out those sheets with things like 'for Christmas this year you could make your professor Lockhart proud and help someone conquer the darkness in their heart."

Ekans eyelids twitched. That had been one of the most annoying things, is not THE most annoying thing that he'd done to her this year. Or at least in the top twenty, that man did a lot of annoying things.

Even the greasy guy got annoyed by him.

"it rings a few bells..."

"Well one of them was donate to charity." Draco said awkwardly, fidgeting again.

"And?..." She failed to see what this had to do with anything.

"Well... I decide to donate to charity so I threw bread crumbs at Weasley." He concluded, "I regret nothing."

Ekans was that close to face palming herself so hard that her hand would come out of the back of her head.

_"And the sad thing is he probably picked them up."_ Galacian chimed at the back of her brain, _"feed his_ _family for a month."_

Ekans accepted this explanation without further questions.

"I see... Not surprised to be honest, what about you?"

"Weeelll..." Pansy dragged the word out, "It looked like fun so I joined in and-"

"Then that fucking Hermione snitched on us; saying stuff like we were discriminatig him because of his hair colour." He sounded like he was in a rage.

Oh dear.

Soemone must have been on their period.

Oh well, did it really matter how they had ended up to be coming alomng? Not really.

Ekans sighed mentally. She had been hoping for a little stroll around the dark forest, maybe an animal homocide or two...

Still, it meant, that she would have to make excuse for when she had to go and meet with Dumbledore.

"Hey Ekans..." Pansy asked cautiously, raising her hand to point at the other girl's attire.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaa..." Ekans dragged out the last leeter as much as she could as she was getting rather...bothered by this whole conversation.

"I don't mean to offend you but do you sleep in your robes?"

Ekans glanced down at herself. Of course she slept in her robes. How the hell was a bloody nightgown supposed to hide the spots of sin upon her skin? How was she supposed to hise her scars during the time she was most vulnerable?

But she couldn't tell them that. She couldn't tell anyone that.

"Maybe I do." She replied stiffly, eeping her thoughts to herself.

"Why? Isn't it uncomfortable?"

"Well what am I supposed to do if there's a fire? Hmmm..." Ekans looked at them pointedly, "or if the House elves go rabid? Hmmm...I'll be out of here in 5 secodns while you're all getting torn to pieces."

She then proceeded to give them all a dramatic, descriptive description of them all getting torn to pieces by rabid house elves while burning.

There was an awkward silence.

"I'm going to start sleeping in my robes..." Draco concluded eventually.

"Good."

Ekans then turned around, swishing her cape in the dramatic way she'd been practicing and prompty marched out of the room, leaving the two terrified and bemused individuals behind.

They were probably going to waste precious seconds of their lives that they would never get back changing when they could just do it in a nick using magic so she decided to wander around the castle for a bit.

She both hated and loved Hogwarts at the same time. The horrible people, the teachers who could barely teach their subject, the students, ignorant of what had been before them and not caring about what would come, the whispers that followed her where ever ashe went, all pissed her off. She just wanted to slap everyoen so hard that their fat little faces would fall off so she could laugh mercilessly atb them scrambling around in teh dirt as they looked for them.

But sometimes, at times like this, when teh castle was quiet, with it's walls darkened by the fading light and with the shadows of the portraits moving adding to the eiree feel, with teh voices of the long gone whispering to her of tales of murder and horror that had happened beneath the roof that housed her, she felt almost at home. Sometimes, if she strained her ears eneough, she could almost hear the sound of her brothers and sister walking along beside her. It was oddly pleasant, to think that even though they were parted, they never truly left each others sides.

She skipped down the corridor, humming a song. Then she realised that a rather large, ugly gargoyle was blocking her way.

Then she realised a split second later that te gargoyle was in fact a teacher.

And that the teacher was in fact Severus Snape.

"Opsies." She tittered as she saw the scowl on his face.

He certainly did look a lot like a gargoyle.

"Ehat, may I ask, Gaunt," He sniffed at her, looking at her down his nose, but it was so large that he did this to everyoen so she didn't feel at all offended, "Are you doing wndering around the school halls at night knowing perfectly well taht there is a killer on the loose."

Oh my god. WELL NO! THOSE PEOPLE JUST DIED FROM BEING TOO EXPOSED TO HER MAGNIFICENT BEING! Obvously she knew that someone was a' murdering teh children.

But instead of saying this she just blinked at him slowly, as a maggot like him wasn't worth her time.

"Now would you care to explain to me just what you are doing wandering around the halls in the dead of night?"

Woooh dead of night. Poetic.

"I had a detention." She replied simply, deciding to keep this converation as simple as possible.

"In the dungeon?" He raised his eyebrows andpointed his wand, which was lit at the tip, direcrtly at her face so would've had to go crosseyed to see it.

She was that close to rolling her eyes at him. She really didn't have time for this crap.

"In the dark foret. I was passing through here as, you know, the Slytherin commmon room is in the dungeons." She wondered if he'd noticed or if he just liked psychologically torturing children. She guessed the answer was probably the second one.

"So you had a detention in the Dark Forest," he began, looking at her down the length of his nose again, his wand still pointed directly at her face, the bright light of the lumos burning her eyes, " and you're going through the dungeons."

_"OH MY FUCKING GOD!"_ Galacian moaned, _"How the hell did this guy become a teacher?"_

"Yes." A normal person would've heard the threat in her voice and taken a few steps back, maybe a couple more, maybe hidden behind a wall and put on as much army gear as possible.

Instead, the psycho just smirked at her and asked for proof.

Ekans cermoniuously, making it seem that it took huge amounts of effort to reach into her satchel and pull out a flimsy card that the giant oaf stuffed into her hand last time. She then shoved it into his face and scowled at him in a rather unladylike way.

Tom would not have been happy.

He looked at it distastefully.

Rude bitch.

"I still don't believe you. As far as I know, it could've been stolen."

Ekans looked at him. The looked at him some more. Was he fucking serious?

"What." She didn't say it like a question. He was being rude to her and she wasn't just going to let him walk all over him, that just wasn't like her.

"I said I don't believe that this is genuine. I require a confirmation from anothe rmember of staff." He said snootily and Ekans wanted to give him free nose surgery. With her fist. It would probably be an improvement anyway.

No really, she was really disliking this human being rather a lot at the moment.

With his ugly black eyes that looked at you like you were something that he'd found stuck to a toilet seat, hooked nose that looked like some bird beak- just disgusting.

"Can you stop looking at me with your eyeballs like that, it's rather unnerving."

She took a moment of apprecoation for the loom of shock on his face. She was in a bad mood.

"What?!" He spat the word right into her face. Rude.

"It'r rather disturbing and makes me feel very self concious of myself."

His brow furrowed as he glared down at her, his beetle black eyes boring into her's.

_"Ooh a staring competition."_ Galacian sang happily, looking from one to the other.

The Professor then drew back a little and regarded her coldly. That was what she hated about people like him. walking all over people using his cheaply earned authority, not caring. Not even bothering to think that maybe the prson standing in front of him had had it even worse than him.

He opened his mouth to speak, probably to scold her for being such a naughty little girl or something when a hoarse, whispering voice cut through the tension between them.

"What's this? Two people wandering around the hallways after hours?"

Talking air.

Really?

Then she saw the lantern, and the hobbling, ugly hob goblin which she realised a split second later was Filch.

_"Jesus this school.."_ Galacian muttered angrily, _"all you need to become a teacher is a horribly disfigured_ _brain and the appearance of a gargoyle."_

_"I see your vocabulary has widened..."_ Magnus chilled, speaking for the first time in days.

Ekans ignored the tow of them and wondered whether or not he'd been waiting in the shadows for someone to set him up a decent opening line.

Seemed like a reasonable explanation.

"What are you doing wandering around at this time of night?" Snape inquired, clearly enraged that someone had dared to interupt his child torturing time.

"I could ask you the same question, Severus," Filch responded calmly, Ekans noted the look of ever so slight shock that flitted across the greasy haired man's features. Apparently Filch didn't often speak to teachers in this way. Kind of discriminative, seeing as he was a squib. Ekans suddenly really wanted to go and give him a pat on the back for putting greasy guy in his place. "It's not your turn for night partrol tonight. Albus is worried that you're overworking yourself-"

"I am not over working myself." The man hissed back.

Oooh...touchy.

"Tell that to Albus." ha, sass, "Anyway," he jerked his lantern in Ekans' direction as he turned his piggy brown eyes her way, "this one has a meeting with the headmaster tonight."

The look of pure happiness that crossed Snape's face was laughable. Clearly he expected her to be expelled or worse.

Oh the irony.

"Oh I see...Well in that case," he turned around, swishing his cloak around him in a way that made him resemble a bat that had it's wings glued together, and left.

Rude.

Leaving in the middle of a comversation.

Who did he think he was?

Ekans snorted and turned back to the caretaker, who was glaring at the back of the teacher's dissappearing head with dissapproval that Ekans could relate to on more levels than she would ever let on, he then shifted his focus to her.

His eyes, which were yellow and blood shot, seemed hollow due to the thick black circles around them and his already thin and parchment like skin had become even more crumpled and creased than before Mrs. Norris' incident. He just generally looked tired and worn out, slumped over slightly like a puppet with frayed strings.

Poor guy.

"So..." Ekans set off to where she believed the classroom that he'd decided to hold their little chit chat was, "How have you been doing?"

He looked at her as if she'd just asked him what hairstyle best desribed the shape of his pubic hair.

"What?"

Ekans sighed mentally.

"How have you been doing?" She asked him again, making hand gestures for emphasis.

He looked at her with wide eyes.

"You...want to know... how I've been doing?" He had stopped walking altogether and was staring at her in absolute shock.

"Yes." Poor guy, she thought to herself, favourite pet nearly died or some shit and nobody's given him any free therapy or anything.

He let out a strangled, high pitched disbelieving laugh.

"You? A student? Want to know about my current well being?" He made the laughing sound again when Ekans nodded at him, "Well... now that ask I suppose I have been doing perfectly fine. Dumbledore said that once the... Mandrakles or something-"

"You mean Mandrakes..." Ekasn said slowly, remembering that Herbology lesson that Draco had nearly got his finger bitten off in.

God that had been traumatising.

And yet how... remarkable. The school sets them growing Mandrakes just as a series of attacks start happening. And now she'd told that these Mandrakes are being used as cures. Coincidential? Knowing the man in charge, probably not.

"Yes yes...Mandrakes..." he said distractedly, "He said that he'll use them to fix Mrs. Norris as soon as they've rippened."

Ekans turned to look at him.

"Mandrakes don't rippen. They grow like normal humans so instead peop,le say 'mature' when talking about them." She blinked upm atbhi, he lived in a school for witch craft, surely...

Anger clouded his sharp, rat like features slightly, "Thought that dratted bat was laughing at something..."

Ekans mentally ran down her list of dratted bats and realised that there was onlym one person who resembled a dratted bat. And that was Mr. Greasy guy, as Glacian had so originally nicknamed him and she let herself feel a fleeting moment of pure hatred for that man, who, knowing that this person wqas a squib who was biologically forever isolated from his world, only chose to rub it in and humiliate him further. What a horrible, sadistic little bitch. Maybe after she'd fucked up Dumbledore, she'd give him a taste of his own psycological torture method.

A smile crept onto her face and then vanished as soon as she remebered that there was to be no killing and revenge...yet.

"I see. I don't mean to step on any land mines..." She began as innocently as it was for a semi-retired murderer to sound, "but do you have any idea who may be behind the attacks?"

There was a tense, thoughtful silence, Ekans held her breath.

"No. No one has any idea at all though people egenerally suspect House Slytherin for obvious reasons." He looked at her thoughtfully, as if a sudden thought had just occured to him, "why do you ask?"

"Because I want them caught, tried," she then added in a quieter, much more...dangerous sounding voice, "and killed."

Filch gave her a look. Then recognition sparked in his eyes as he remebered that this was the child who had flung herself upon two third year students because they were bullying a first year, and who had violently attacked another student, knowing full well the consequences, because she had slandered him by calling him a squib.

What a strange child...

He rather liked her; people like that, who stood by their beliefs, that weren't hypocritical and that didn't look down at you, that didn't discriminate or forget about you once it was over.

"I understand." Was all he said to her as they neared the door to the classroom. And he wasn't lying either.

"Albus," a desperate voice pleaded with someone on the other side of the door, "you know whats he's like and please, please don't forget about her mental state," How wondeful, there someone was, babbling about her and her fragile mental health, bloody womderful, "what she's...gone through... just one word could set off a kiling spr-"

"They're here." Soemone, Albus proabably, put an end to her talking as they approached the door.

Ekans sneaked a look at teh caretaker's face and was relieved to notice he hadn't heard. If he had, then that would have beeen mildly..problematic let's say. As Ekans didn't want to kill someone who would be unable to defend themselves.

And right after he loses his one and only friend.

Her pale, skinny hand reached up and rapped on the door four times.

"And Gaunt," she looked up at the caretaker, "good luck."

It was time.

Four hard, clear knocks souded through the room. Four harsh, cruel thuds that signalled that the short preperation they had been given a chance to do was over flooded through the room, the crack of light shinibg under the door had four black lines cut through it where what could be the most dangerous enemy he would ever have to face was standing.

He woudl have to rely on what he had relied on all those years ago, that the child didn't fully understand their powers and capabilities and that beneath the blood stained soul and mangled conscience, there was still a sliver of humanity which wouldn't want to burn the whole school down or, more likely, that there was still a sense of reason that would whisper to her that if she killed him now, the whole wizarding world would be in uproar and whatever it was she was after, it would be that much harder to get.

For what other reason could she possibly have for coming here?

She was looking for something. Maybe a way to ressurect the dead, maybe for justice, maybe she wanted to make his life a living hell before she dealt the final, messy blow which he was sure she would, but she moust have thought that she would get more out of this than he would.

Minerva squeezed his hand and their old, blue and grey eyes met.

"Good luck," she whispered, "and be careful."

He didn't need telling twice, but for some reason his mouth still felt dry and all he could do was nod at her.

The she left, and the room itself seemed to darken, the furniture and shadows that had before seemed so peaceful twisting to mimic the evil, twisted spirit that had entered.

Ekans strolled in, secretly grinning and let her eyes sweep over the room.

No traps by the looks of it... nothing unusual...just an empty Charm s classroom that could do with a little dusting.

She smiled ruefully to herself. She had two enemies; and the more dangerous one was the one that lived inside her mind.

"So what do you want to talk about this fine evening?" She mock asked him, swinging herself up onto an empty desk and started to dangle her feet back and forth, not particularly thinking or caring about what he though of it.

Now then , al she needed to do was eliminate any suspiscions, make the bargain and be on her way.

"Ekans, " He bagan eventually, his monotone voice calm and lacking it's usual childish spark, "What do you see in the mirror."

Her head jerked up and she looked at him with an amused expression, like that of someone who has found a dog that used to bite them tied on a leash, with them standing just out of reach.

"The mirror?" He was using riddles, trying to throw you off guard, trying to feed your paranoia to distract you from what he was really doing.

"Yes." He said gravely, his piercing blue eyes regarding her indifferently.

Dust motes that were disturbed by his purple slippers that poked out from under his robes flitted through the air as he crossed teh classroom to a wall.

Ejkans had noticed before, that the wall had seemed a little different; the posters and cheaply put together book shelves were gone, leaving behind a blank, empty space on the wall where they had been.

He stood in fromnt of the wall. His back to her. Ekans recognised teh gesture; turning your back to someone. It was a symbol that you trusted them and were putting yourself in their hands. However, to Ekans it was more like he was turing his back on her.

"The mirror," he began, "that I am about to show you is different from any other that you have ever seen-"

"Go figure." Ekans thought to herself spitefully.

"-it shows not your reflection, but the deepest, darkest, most ruinous desires of our hearts."

This snapped Ekans out of her focus for one moment.

The deepest darkest most ruinous desires of your heart...

That was what he was using.

The sneaky bastard.

"However," he continued, "there is no way to reach the place behind the mirror. Many, many people have wasted away their lives trying to find a way to make what their eyes see in the glass a reality. But in vain. Some are driven mad by the sight of what they want, others have fallen into deep deppresion-"

"And what you're trying to tell me is?" Ekans raised her eyebrows and getured with her hand as she' had enough of this dream bull shit already.

"I am merely warning you, Ekans Gaunt, that it does not do to dwell on dreams." He then let his eyes flick over to look at her, observing her reaction through the reflection cast on the lens of his enchanted glasses.

"Ha. I wonder how many people you've charmed with that nice little poetic phrase of yours" She chirped, jumping off the desk and putting her hands in her pockets, taking a hold of her wand in her left arm and her knife in her left. Hey, better safe than sorry.

She watched him step back and away from the wall. He was right, where part of the wall had been, there was now a mirror. WIitha silver, gilded frame around it, smooth, flawless glassy surface tinted black and in it Ekans saw herself.

That was it.

At first she was mildly surprsied and then disgusted that she'd believed him, then she'd felt a sudden surge of panic. Wht couldn't she see anything? All her life she'd lusted after revenge, shhouldn't she be seeing that? Seeing that dream, that fitful, sadistic fantasy being displayed in front of her? Or maybe she shoudl see her family, her siblings and maybe ever the mother that rejected her standing beside her, happy, whole, well and alive.

But she didn't. And why? Why? Why couldn't she see them again? Even if they weren't there really, eveuin if they were northing but ghsots, it would be enough to see them again. To see them standing next to her, to see them as they had been and now never would again. Even if it hurt, it was possible to live with pain.

Pain and fear, the two stepping stones that we all must use.

_ "Oh Ekans..."_ Magnus sighed, _"Surely you must know that your mind is too strong and doubtful to allow such a wishful and childish fantasy to take root in your mind?"_

"I see..." she replied, the bitter, resenting feeling fading slightly.

She checked the old man's expression to see what he made of this but the look on his face told her that there was no way in hell this was some sort of trick. The expression he wore was the expression she herself wore whenever she was alone. Whenever she was given a moment alone in the dark to mourn. It was a side of her that nobody knew. Not even Tom. It was apart of her that even she herself didn't fully understand, a part of her with it's own mind, waiting and writhing silently in her mind.

H elooked torn. Broken from the inside, where nobody would ever be hable to see the cracks along the walls of his soul and where no-one would be able to fix him.

"I think we both know," he said eventually, "what the other sees."

He turned to face her, his blue eyes twinkling sadly.

She tore her eyes away from the mirror for a few seconds to look at him. Just to remind herself.

"Now Ekans," his tone was slightly more worried now, "I haven't called you here to talk about the wonders of reflection. Had this been the case I'm sure many more people would be alive right now."

"What do you mean more people would be alive right now?" Turquoise eyes bored into him at she said that and her grip on her knife tightened.

"Now now." He says on a forced joking tone, "I'm only speaking wistfully. Now I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you here. And trust me, you will be relieved to hear that it isn't because of your rather appalling behaviour."

The said girl snorted and continued to glare at him.

He smiled to himself. Sometimes it was so very hard to believe that this was the same girl whose mind was more fragile than crumbling glass.

"You see Gaunt," he put his arms behind his back and looked at her seriously, "I want to strike a bargain with you."

Severus pulled back and looked up at the ceiling with an annoyed expression.

You see, he had 'accidentally' stood on a chair then 'accidentally' put a goblet to the ceiling and 'accidentally' pressed his ear to it.

He has heard absolutely nothing.

He allowed himself a moment of envy for McGonagall, whose office was right next to the classroom they were using, and was probably teeing to push herself through the wall in her earnest nosiness.

Hag.

Anyway, no way in hell was he going to get to any sleep tonight. Maybe he'd go and annoy Filch or terrorise the girl on her way back down to the common room.

But Ekans want going to allow herself to be terrorised because she was already fast asleep on her bed, her temperature rising steadily, a girl not much younger than her frowning down at her with a piece of her brother's soul clutched to her chest.

If only she or anyone else knew what was going on with the rest of that soul.

**Anyways, R&amp;R as usual.**


	38. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

It was raining.

It was the sort of rain that Sirius Black hated the most.

Because it had been this rain, this sort of rain, that had bled from the skys when he had fallen.

He had lain there, tracing patterns down his arm, where the dark mark was supposed to be, where his mother would often fondly sroke her skeletal, sharp nailed finger down, sending goosebumps slithering up his arms, already imagining the slave mark burned into his flesh and bone.

Already imagining him as Lord Black, a firm supporter of Lord Voldemort, a firm supporter of that murderous society that claimed the lives of innocent people everywhere.

He'd always believed that he would be different. That he would be known as Sirius and Padfoot, a cocky and maybe arrogant man that liked a laugh and could take a joke, not as a Black or death eater, a cold, stone faced murderer who claimed the lives of innocent people.

But that hadn't happened.

He'd been close friends with James.

They had too much in common for them to every have an argument that couldn't be solved with a few words, a laugh and a friendly slap on the back; they didn't like the same people AKA Snivellus Greasy, who they had both speny many lazy Summer nights, expertly ignoring Moony's pleas to go to bed plotting how best to publicly humiliate him, preferable in front of Lily. They were both extremely popular with the girls, so they both didn't have to worry about the other being jealous of the other's female attention and they both had the same charasteristics. Just looking at them, you could think that they'd been friends since the day they were born.

But of course, it was all too good too last.

One day, out of the blue, James had asked his best mate if he wanted to go to a club that was held down in Hogsmeade every now and then. He said that it was a place that he wanted to take Lily to on their first date, as it had been around this time that her 'hatred' for him had finally given way, leaving his best friend in a permanent high for over a week. And as he knew what happened if anything Lily related was passed down, he'd hastily agreed, menatlly waving that nice looking Slytherin girl who'd wanted to 'help him with his studies' goodbye.

So they'd both snuck out on Friday after class as Moony, who had a habit of getting wind of anything that involved breaking the school rules, had kept a vice-like grip on the two of them for the whole week, only letting them off the leash when the bell rang for a particulary tedious Transfiguration lesson with Prof. McGonagall.

Whn they first arrived, Padfoot honestly thought that it would be one of the most dead experiences he would ever have but it had actually been quite fun.

The music choice had been sweet, something by the Weird Sister's that didn't sound like they were gargling mouth wash with their noses for once, the people here broke the ice fairly recently and by the time he'd been there for over a minute, he'd already shook teh hands of at least 10 people and had the feeling that the trail of girls' numbers he'd left behind him was only going to get bigger, there were lots of nice behinds to admire and th mood was generally friendly, open and relaxed.

Then people had split off into twos and threes, splitting of from the main throng and stadning some way off, laughing and joking as they pulled out their wand and started casting incantations which caused parts of the wall to unfold in midair, as if it was the work of fine clockwork machinery to form a platform that threaded through the crowd like a black snake.

He frowned at it and asked James what the hell it was.

"Oh come on Padfoot," James had replied, the usual cheeky sparkle back in his eyes, "You can't have an evening without a little fun can you- oh and have you had one of these? They're really good!"

"By fun do you mean exotic dancers?" He had joked, cocking an eyebrow while James, smiling his usual beaming smile, plucked a small glass filled with red liquid from a passing girl, who has a tray that was full of drinks like these. She frowned at him, and he explained to her that Sirius hadn't had any yet.

Sirius had taken the glass and had a good, long look at it. The red liquid was quite thin, and looked like it doesn't have much flavour. Not at all like the wine they served at Hogwarts, or the thick, creamy butterbeers at the inn in hogsmeade.

Still, Prongs said it was good, so he had shrugged and taken a gulp.

The first swallow had been tasteless. He'd like down at the drink and then up at his friend, deciding it was all a trick, he played along and said how 'wonderful' it tasted.

And the next swallow had been.

He honestly couldn't remember what had happened afterwards, but he knew that whatever it was that had happened, he wanted to happen again.

So they'd started going frequently, sometimes alone, sometimes with Lily, sometimes with the other Marauders.

This had gone on for a year. And by the ends, he still didn't have any idea about what on earth he was doing there than any one else did.

Then they'd graduated.

Lily and James had become aurors. Peter became a person working in one of the less important ministry job, probably a photographer for the department of failed magical sex toys or something, the knowledge had been stolen from him in Azkaban, and Moony had worked in a small book shop near diagon alley in Summer and Spring, helping out with other werewolves in Autumn and Winter.

He'd mostly just done whatever work he could find. From hard labour moving crates to being a test subject for new sweets and other such things, he'd even worked under muggles and then cashed the money in from pounds to galleons. He'd even slept around a little, pinching from them every now and then. Rather anything, than go back home to ask for money or use some of the gold they'd left him for himself.

Anything.

Anything, rather than return to Grimmauld place 12, where the family he'd shamed dwelled.

Anything rather than face them especially after he left.

He was always willing to help the order. In secret of course, as he had still lived with his family at the time. Though he no longer had to put up with dear little Bella as she'd married into the Lestrange family shorty after graduating. For some reason his mother had cried at the ceremony and wept something about her being so young. Women eh. He loved the thought that he was doing something that his family disapproved of and was also helping his friends out. So when Dumbledore approached him with a little something he could do to help him, he'd leapt at the chance. All that he needed to do was charm his way into the heart of a woman called Elmira Anatts, who was said to work in the department of mysteries. Quite a nice lady if he could say so himself. Not his natural choice, but had a good sense of humor and wasn't that bad, and then get his hands on a time turner.

He'd done it and Dumbledore had been quite shocked that he had. As all that about charming his way into the heart of a young woman had definitelt not been part of the plan.

Still he'd pocketed the time turner and he'd smiled down at him and explained the rest of his plan to him.

There was something that he'd found in a paper that the previous him had gone back in time to deliver to him that said that there wa one extremely dangerous serial killer who had murdered their whole family roaming wild that needed to be stopped.

Sirius had just accepted this. He hadn't even raised an eyebrow, hadn't even suspected when Dumbledore told him that he needed Moony to hlep him. Hadn't suspected at all.

But he'd found out. That hadn't been a serial killer that had been killed when that hourglass was flipped over, it had been a child.

A young, helpless, innocent little girl who's name had been...

Had been...

The dementors had stolen it away.

When he'd found out, he'd been stricken with guilt, he'd hated himself so much, like only a murderer can. He'd locked himself in his room and not come out or spoken to anyone for a whole month, only his younger brother stopped by to feed him, soon dropping asking him what was wrong after their mother took to bed with a fever.

The he'd pulled himself together. I mean, for goodness sake he was a Blac-a man. A strong, proud man who wouldn't let the death of a few kiddies stop him. It had probably been that the damned child had caught some sort of disease and Dumbledore wanted to put them out of their misery. He'd opened his eyes up and realised that what he was doing was down right wrong. He was sitting on his bed, with his blankie wrapped around him like he was some sort of baby, with his bloody mother dying like he'd wanted.

He'd got down and went down stairs, he'd hoped that he'd be able to pick things up where they started but no. Darling little Bella had been waiting for him with dear little Reggie. She'd yelled at him like oh...like he didn't even know. Her long, curly black hair flying around her as she screamed at him, as she shrieked how he should be ashamed of himself for doing what he'd done. For moping in his room while his mother was dying, how he wasn't a Black at all, how he didn't deserve to live in this house, where a head master of Hogwarts had lived.

Then he'd got pissed.

He'd got so bloody pissed he was surprised that the house hadn't exploded.

He'd shrieked at her that she didn'y know the meaning of being a black anymore, that she was just a girl who'd got married to some random bastard because of his money and status, that he didn't care if she thought he was a worse Black than her, he was a better human then her.

She'd fallen silent for a minute, mouth open in shock and omyx eyes wide.

Quietly, dangerously she'd hissed at him.

"I'll kill you."

Then she stormed out of the room.

Ha.

She could suck a dick, he wasn't staying here one minute longer than he had to.

Kreacher had mocked and wailed at him all while he rushed around his room, grabbing anything that was of any importance to him and stuffing it in his Hogwarts trunk.

He'd sneaked down the stairs in the middle of the night with his trunk, hoping not to wake anyone.

And he hadn't. He'd just ran into his little brother.

He'd looked at him wide eyed, then let his dark brown eyes flick to the trunk in his older brother's hand.

"You're leaving."

It hadn't been a question. He'd seen the terrorized, lost look in his brother's eyes when he sat in his room, he'd heard how his mother had screamed at him when he'd been put in Gryffindor, heard him and Bella, his two role models, shouting at each other.

He wasn't happy here.

This wasn't his home.

And as his brother nodded and silently stepped past him, not bothering to say goodbye to his younger sibling, not looking back as he softly closed the door, Regulus knew that this time, he wouldn't be coming back.

He'd stepped out into the badly lit street, not caring if anyone saw him, not caring about anyone anymore. He tried to focus on something else as he furiously fought to fight back the tears that threatened to start pouring from his eyes at any moment.

Bella watched him. Her black eyes regarding him coldly, like two black slivers of ice. She watched him stagger into the street, he saw her, as the lacy silk of her nightgown had a tendency to shimmer seductively in dim light, which meant she always wore it around her husband, just to show him what he would never have. Sirius, being the kind of man her husband was, rudely flipped her the finger and apparated, not carrying if any muggles saw him.

She retracted her hand and let the curtain fall back into place. He could leave if he wanted. She didn't care.

Letting out a small sigh as she imagined what would happen next morning, when the news that her cousin had magically disappeared reached Walburga.

Instinctively, she began to trace her dark mark. A small chain woven into her flesh, holding her sanity to earth.

At first it had all gone well. He'd stayed with Prongs, who had been more than happy to see him and who's family left him no time to miss the family he'd left behind.

It had been when they learnt where he was that things got ugly.

His cousin's husband, Lucius, had come marching up yo their house, calling loudly about his connections with the ministry and what a bad boy Sirius was being and that he was a disgrace and that his family were worried and that Regulus wanted his brother back and that his poor mother cried out for him in his sleep, which he highly doubted was true.

He'd got rid of him fairly easily, just a couple of yells were enough to convince him to leave and never come back.

But then the letters started coming.

The first one had arrived at night, delivered by an elegant black owl that he recognised at once to be his brother's. He tried to ignore it, but the owl sat there, on a branch outside his window, waiting patiently. Not enforcing it's presence, not tapping on the window, not doing anything. Just sitting there. Just like Regulus would've done.

So eventually, he'd sighed, got up and let it in.

The letter it had attatched to it's leg had read:

nd hated by the same people he had one laughed with.

And with the dementors gliding past his cell every day and night, stealing parts of his memory, he started remembering.

It was as if the memories being taken from him let new ones slot into their place. Ones he didn't want to remember.

He remembered what he'd really done at that club. What had really been in that drink. And what a horrible, horrible person he truly was.

The only thing that kept his sanity intact wear this one promise: that he would one day break out and do needed to be done.

He would kill Peter


End file.
